Break The Storm
by AxlMaster
Summary: Axel Krieger is a boy who dreams of being a Hunter like his mother and godmom Glynda Goodwitch. Unfortunately, an accident in his childhood left him with cybernetic eyes that regularly cause bouts of pain, and with such an inhibition his future is uncertain. Clouds are gathering, and he needs to break the storm or be left in the dark.
1. Trial and Error

Authors Note: Behold, I am not dead! I've been off fanfic awhile lately, but I'm back and I have a weekly series for you all! That's right, this story will be updated weekly for all your reading pleasure. I'm aiming for Saturday afternoonish or friday evening depending on if I indulge in that silly thing called sleep I hear the kids are into these days.  
>I'm willing to bet there are some people worried if this will be one of those series that gets on the runway, then crashes and burns before it's even done. Not so here! The story itself is pretty much finished, I just want to keep editing it while also giving you all a satisfying experience. So be on the lookout for when new chapters are up, I know you guys will love the ending.<p>

Also, my Naruto story...Blah. I've been writing that damn thing since last summer. I still fully intend to post it believe you me. One does not write a story over a hundred pages and just drops it. It's on the way, I'm just being a bit occupied by relationships, classes, etc. I'm aiming to get it out sometime after this series is done, hopefully. It is mostly done at least.

Lastly, RWBY! I cannot say how much I love this series. Its got everything! Guns, comedy, action, drama! (Dramacedy?) This is another piece based on my Axel Krieger OC piece. If you haven't read that, don't do so just yet if you can bear it. This story is more of an introduction to the character, after which you can expect a one-shot here and there of him on various adventures, possibly even with his Beacon Team...We shall see at least. Well, enough of me, enjoy Chapter 1!

* * *

><p>A young boy sat on a large, luxurious chair. It was made of exquisite leather that failed to provide him any comfort, angled to provide a relaxing pose that likewise faltered to ease him. Indeed no aspect of the chair or the room gave him any respite from the ache.<p>

"Breathe."

"I'm..I'm trying."

"You can beat this, I know you can."

"I'm trying to...Mom.."

"Breathe" The quiet, calming voice of his mom spoke in front of him, only barely alleviating his pain. That ache, the terrible burning, throbbing ache. It coursed through him, a burning pulse that singed his nerves. From the back of his head down to the tips of his fingers and toes, flooding to every inch of his body. Each pulse was worse than the last, growing mercilessly. The pain of it was taking a visible strain on him. His forehead was coated in sweat from his efforts. His eyes were clenched shut, his feet shifted against the chair legs, and his hands clenched on the chairs arms, creaking the leather under his white-knuckled grip.

"Focus on my voice. Breathe dear." Again she spoke, and her voice reached his ears, washing through him. Calm, cool, and soothing. But the ache remained strong in his head, and his body remained tense. His hands risked tearing through the leather, fueled by both terror and anger he felt toward his condition. The unbridled pain, the mornings where he'd wake up screaming to the sensation of cold, jagged blades rammed into his eye still had the scars. Those terrible wounds that stretched the length of his arm down to his hands.

His older sister once said that he'd probably carry the marks for the rest of his life, as a reminder from God of his foolishness. Their mother had swiftly responded with a fierce and icy tone, silencing all those who would dare deride Axel's future with her voice, and a gaze that could paralyze Grimm of countless number.

But now, she spoke with words to soothe the nerves and focus the mind of her son. The passion in her tone, the gentle grip of her hands resting on his own. Her entire being was focused on aiding her son to resist and overcome his pain.

He tried to regain focus, to push aside the pain and move past his accident. He tried and so many times before he had failed, scrunching into the fetal position while he cried uncontrollably, his cybernetic eyes failing to produce any tears. His entire being ached in pain even with his mother coaching him to calm his senses. So many days spent with these exercises in preparation for when the pain hit, so many attempts to reach a zen-like state above pain.

"I'm trying mom.. But...Everything's burning. It feels like it could burst any second!"

"I know sweetie. I know how this feels..." she whispered.

Another pulse crackled in him. The pain began within his eye-sockets, piercing him with the sensation of thousands of thorns embedded in his flesh. Within an instant it shot through what remained of his optic nerves, traveling to his brain, where it sparked and electrified through his body as one paralyzing shock that made him jerk out of his chair from the sudden agony. He stifled a pained howl, biting on his lip to keep from screaming his lungs out.

"It's okay to scream." His mother whispered in his ear. He sniffled as tears poured from his eyes, and his arms wrapped around her and holding her as if it life depended on it. But unlike when this ordeal began, it wasn't his life on the line, but his sanity. He knew it, and his mother damn well knew what this could bring him. A shiver passed through her spine as she rubbed her sons deep blue hair.

"It's okay to scream Axel. It's okay.."

* * *

><p><em>Day 1089: Its been almost three years. <em>

_Nearly three years that Axel has spent with the pain from his augments. Despite Katherine's best efforts, the meditation sessions have yet to prove fruitful. Today they spent exactly three hours, twenty-seven minutes and fifty-four seconds in his room. This attempt ended no different to the others. This method has worked only two times in the past, results have produced minimal useful data. _

_Scans of his eye implants have yet to produce any useful data, or comprehensible data for that matter. Medication has yet to have any effects, even when Katherine allows it. Drugs would only disrupt their meditation. I can't disagree with her assessment, as much as I wish she was...Incorrect. No amount of morphine, could possibly counteract the symptoms. Migraines, inflammatory pain in the eye sockets and frontal lobe. My brother expected some initial soreness as the body integrated the implants, but none of my staff anticipated this. While Axel's body has fully accepted the eyes (Katherine attributes this to the Damon Healing Factor) thus preventing scar tissue, there is some chemical imbalance affecting the circuitry. Hormonal possibly._

_ Personal Note: I can't stand seeing my son in such pain. This whole ordeal...I'm beginning to think that maybe I should have never_

"Interesting writing Alex."

Alexander jumped out of his seat when he heard Katherine suddenly speak in his ear. With his typical grace and finesse, the prodigy of humanity tripped on his chair's wheels to slam his face onto his desk with a painfully audible slam. His journal was knocked to the side and closed.

"Honey, I know you love hide and seek," Alexander lifted his face from the desk, sporting a red blotch on his forehead. "But we're both way past our school days. I'm running a corporation now, and you're the legendary "Grimm Reaper," so please try to show some maturity okay?" Alexander dusted his lab-coat while he steadied himself, looking back at Katherine with a frown. He crossed his arms as a show of his maturity, a courageous gesture that utterly failed in the force of Katherine's own amused eyes.

"What?" Alexander questioned, to which Katherine could only smile as she let out her signature giggle.

"You're just as adorable as the day I met you."

Alex groaned as he rested his forehead in his palm, running it down his face as the day's challenges refused to lift themselves from his shoulders. He could feel the weariness and exhaustion like it was in his skin, weighing down on him. Katherine herself could see the bags under his eyes, the frazzled hair, and his horrendous posture that he normally maintained with the utmost diligence. The sight of him like this made her good mood sink. The presence of his journal on the table only more so.

"Honey…" Katherine strolled to lean against the desk, gingerly picking up the journal. Alexander remained in his slouched position next to her, not even bothering to hide information. Whatever Katherine wanted to know, she could always find out. Her hands flicked through dozens of pages as her eyes scanned, her incredible brain capacity processing pages upon pages in seconds.

"I thought you stopped writing these after the first year."

"Well, you know me. Always taking notes." For once he took no pride in fastidiousness.

"...Always a good thing to do." Katherine responded with neutral tone. Upon reaching the last page, the last little spark of optimism she had been cultivating since her session with Axel began to flicker, to lose its light. The words in front of her showed that like her, Alexander was succumbing to doubt.

"Alex, its not your fault."

"I know."

"The damage was too severe for any healer to fix, cybernetics were our only option."

"I know that." Alexander rose from his spot on the desk, running his fingers through his greasy hair as he strolled toward his chair.

"I remember every detail Kath. The rust shavings and bacteria would've resulted in severe necrosis that could have spread to his brain tissue. Statistically there was an eighty-five point nine percent chance he would've lost more than his eyes if we hadn't operated as quickly as we did. Without the augments the chances of his survival were less than fifteen percent, twenty-five if his body rejected them."

"Damon blood is quite resilient." Katherine added. Though she noticed her words fell on deaf ears, for Alexander continued pacing.

"But then again if we had acted fast enough and removed the damaged tissue, perhaps called up Glynda to operate herself then Axel could've regained his sight in a year or two. Statistically he could have even...Even…" Alex's pace slowed to a halt when noticed the eyes of his wife looking at him. She sat on his desk like a perched cat, leaning on her side with the same seriousness she usually afforded her daily affairs, practically nonexistent. But her eyes betrayed her body language.

In those gray pools that were the windows to her soul, he saw everything in his wife, every opinion and emotion. Wisdom and innocence. Pride and humbleness. Courage and self-doubt. All that made Katherine Krieger.

He saw the eyes of a mother, one willing to rip armies of Grimm with her bare hands, or take on an entire kingdom if it meant her child was in danger. That quietly reserved wrath only meant for her enemies, the side she had kept hidden since she left her clan. But most of all, these orbs before him were eyes bearing the greatest love for her children.

Love she had shown to them every day since they were born, and heaped onto Axel whenever he woke up in the night screaming, comforting him. Love that had driven her to keep trying to impart her clan's technique onto her son, despite the odds it may never succeed. But Hunters, the truly skilled ones, never did listen to the oods. She didn't care about the numbers, she would keep trying if it meant it could help her son.

And here he was, rambling to himself about statistical evidence.

"Sorry Kath," he mumbled in shame. "I went nuts on numbers again."

"Like you always do." she added, without a hint of malice in her tone. Alex closed his eyes as he slumped back into his chair, resting his head on the leather that utterly failed to provide any real comfort, resting for a minute to calm his mind while Katherine sat, patiently.

"I know what you're going to say." he spoke, earning a raised eyebrow from Katherine.

"Do tell."

"I shouldn't blame myself for deciding to go with the operation. That I can't be ashamed for choosing to do what any parent would do, trying to save their child. Am I doing alright so far?"

Katherine gave a slow nod, signaling him to continue.

"None of my team or even me could have expected such a...Potent stimulation in his optic nerves. The pain he's feeling isn't my fault. But Kath...I just, I-"

"You still feel guilty." she concluded for him, and he nodded in response.

"Our son is in pain, and for once there's nothing I can do about it." he grumbled. "Whenever Katja would bruise her knee or Anton cut himself on his ax I could swoop in like a goofy guardian angel, patch them up and get them laughing within an hour. I can always, always fix things. Give me a broken washing machine, I could make it fly and shoot explosive scatter-shot rounds." Katherine sighed, remembering his experiments with weaponizing household appliances.

"If a person is suffering from a disease I can create a machine to reverse it, even if its cancer. Heck I can patch up a broken spine in five minutes if I have to." Alex thumped his head against the chair as he spoke. "But. I can't. Do. A damn. Thing." He hung his head in shame.

For a minute there was nothing but silence between them. He sat in his chair and wallowed in his abject failure. Katherine however, looked on at her husband, and a frown appeared on her lips.

"Alex. Do you know how I feel?" she questioned. Alex looked up at her with a glint in his eyes that invited her to continue.

They always knew when the other needed to speak their mind. If one of them was worried or angry, they owed it to each other to state their feelings; it was one of the pillars of their relationship, even their time as team KAMO in Beacon Academy. One had spoken, now it was the other's turn. Alex had let out his frustrations, now Katherine needed to state her own.

"No offense dear, but you aren't the only one tearing their hair out. I've sat with Axel every time he's had an episode. Whenever he's feeling even the tiniest amount of discomfort, I rush to him thinking that this time would be the one he couldn't take it anymore. That it would be the last night he could bear waking up screaming his throat hoarse, or not wanting to crawl out of bed, to shut out the world." Katherine's hand clenched the side of Alex's desk, gripping it with white on her knuckles.

"I've heard the screaming...The crying.." Katherine's eyes watered. "I've heard him begging me to make it stop, to make his pain go away. Her grip tightened on the desk, and Alex heard the fine oak wood start to crack. "I can always destroy an enemy Alex. I could take an army, in fact I have. Several times." Katherine chuckled bitterly. "Whenever I see I problem I do anything I can to fix or annihilate it."

"It's why we're such a good team Kath." Alex added with a smile.

"Yeah," Katherine chuckled, but it swiftly faded as she wiped her eyes with her free hand.

"But this is an opponent I can't face. I fight it." Her other hand crunched straight through the desk as she looked at Alexander like a bear afraid for its cubs, unable to save them.

"I can't do anything against this enemy." she slumped. "We can't..."

"You're right. Maybe we can't..." Alex spoke. Katherine gaze jumped up to affix to his.

"What are you saying? That we just let him keep suffering like this?" she snarled, but Alex rose from his chair with surprising speed and strength. With quick, brisk strides he walked up to Katherine, unafraid of the woman who could smash mountains with a pinky, and looked deep into her eyes.

"You know me Kath." he whispered. "You know me better than to let a child endure pain like this." His hands gently wrapped around her own, squeezing them. "We should not, we cannot stop trying to help Axel no matter what we feel. I won't, and I know all too well that my wife the 'Grimm Reaper' will never back down until she finishes the mission." Katherine smirked.

"We can't fix this problem. There's no magic spell or technology to solve it." Alex said.

"So what can we do? If we can't solve this, who's going to help?"

"Axel is." Katherine suddenly saw a smile forming on her husband's lips.

"That little guy has more courage and nobility in his thumb than most men have in their entire body. He's been climbing around the mansion since he was...Eight I think?" Sometimes his work had distracted Alex from the adventures and squabbles of his kids. More often than not it was one of the butlers or kitchen staff that ended up keeping the two younger Krieger siblings out of trouble.

"Four, since he was four." Katherine corrected with another smirk on her lips. "He climbed to the top of those towering bookshelves in the library and shouted 'I'm the book king' and wouldn't come down cause he was having too much fun up there."

"More than that Kath." Alexander's tone turned serious while he tightened his grip on her hands, an effort she wouldn't notice even if he clenched with all his might given her strength. But was she did notice was the glint in his eyes that spoke of immense pride in their child.

"When a little faunus girl risked falling to her death, our son jumped to save her knowing full well what would happen if he acted. So many others today would have denied involvement, to ignored the death of yet another faunus. But not our kid. He leaped to save her. Not once have I heard him regret that choice. Not in all my talks with him or the other kids have I heard him say 'I wish that girl was gone' or 'I should never have helped her' Have you?"

Katherine sniffed as she looked back at her husband. Her head tilted, her mind recalling every one of her sessions with Axel down to the most minute detail. Every day he spent undergoing meditation passed through her brain in an instant. When she looked up at Alex, it was not with a frown, but a sad if proud smile.

"Not once." She said. "He doesn't regret it at all." Katherine raised an eyebrow. "So what are you getting at Alex? His emotions won't stop his episodes."

"I mean...It might." He countered with a chuckle. "I only have a hypothesis on this, but I think there's a chemical imbalance in his brain caused by the accident. Either his Damon blood activated before it was ever supposed to, thus causing an erratic spasm of some power or energy frequency that the eye implants cannot account for. Of course there's so much of your clan's power I don't understand. For all I know it could be an upset in his cortisol levels or his adrenal glands are causing some kind of involuntary spike of-"

"Sweetie."

"Yeah?"

"You did it again."

"Oh. Woops." Alexander could only faintly smile, gently pulling Katherine up from the desk and into his open arms. Despite her initial surprise at him, the embrace was a very welcome gesture. She quickly settled into his arms, wrapping her own around her little gadgeteer genius. The settled in each other's presence. Katherine could feel and hear her husbands heart. A constant beat. Something she could always depend on.

Strange, his heart rate was elevated...

"I miss having these hug sessions Kath."

"Me too…" She responded.

"When do you think we'll get back to our...Normal routine?"

Ahh, so that was it. Katherine couldn't help but laugh at her husbands eternal appreciation for their long nights - and days - spent together. It was a quiet laugh, more of suppressed chuckle actually. Music to Alexander ears, and the music only grew when she whispered in his ears.

"I've been wanting to have a private session of our own this whole week Alex." The notes and melodies of her voice rung in Alexander's ears. But the song fell flat when Katherine's mouth opened wide, letting out a long and thunderous yawn. She slumped into her husband's arms. Alex could make out a cat-like grin as she leaned on him, too tired for anything strenuous. "But I think we'll just have to wait till later. Maybe when I've got more energy. Sorry."

"Don't sweat it dear." Alex released her from their embrace, pulling gently for her to follow out of his stuffy office to their bedroom. "Coffee's the only thing keeping me up this late." The two meandered out of the office, With a quiet yawn, Alex closed the door behind him lazily while Katherine leaned against the railing.

Her eyes looked out on the main hall of their house, glazing over the podiums of her husbands inventions decorating the main hall. She passed over the furniture and paintings, the old playset for Nadja sitting in the corner. Memories and fragments of the past. Shards of a happier time she sorely missed.

When she would return from her missions to the voices of four fun-sized humans, **her **fun-sized humans shouting and screaming in joy for her return. The twins would always be just behind Axel and Nadja. Those two kids had the fastest legs, practically tripping over themselves to get to her and leap into her arms, asking so many questions. How many Grimm had she defeated? What kingdom did she visit? Did she had any presents for them? Would she want to see Axel climb the bookcases, or Nadja's new drawings? Could she read them a bedtime story?

Her gaze drifted up in the direction of her kids bedrooms across the mansion. Even on this side she could hear and smell everything going on in that room. At this late hour, there was only the breathing. The steady inhale and exhale of children fast asleep, dreaming of god knows what. Adventures on the high sea, or fighting against the Grimm in protection of their friends and family perhaps. When they were younger, she was sure their dreams were nothing but joyous explorations into the possibilities laid out before them, the wonder of seeing the world one day as she had.

Now there was one who dreamed nothing of that. Her son, so curious and adventurous, now had dreams of pain. Of loss. Of an uncertain future. The idea that he may never have the chance to explore as she did.

"How long is this going to take Alex?" Her husband leaned up against her.

"I don't know Kath." The two rose, beginning their stroll to the bedroom.

"We'll keep trying though." She spoke matter-of-factly, earning a chuckle.

"No question...Do you think Axel will?"

"He's our son. I have to believe that no matter what happens, he'll keep fighting."


	2. Construction

"Okay...Fifteenth times a charm." he muttered

He had to shorten the extension mechanism by two inches. Otherwise the blades could be loose and get knocked out with the first strike from over-extension. That or the blades would just shoot out whenever he activated them and end up impaling somebody.

Actually that could be pretty useful. Funny too even. If he got captured and told to put his hands on his head, the blades would just shoot out, catch them all off guard and leave them vulnerable to an asskicking like no other. Better yet, he could implant homing microjets to program the blades to fly back to him after hitting a target. Maybe as a neat secondary function….

_Note to self: add projectile function to blade. Also, microjet guiding system? _

No, that idea could be added later. For when he had time. This current tech oopsie had to be addressed first, or he'd inevitably end up making something part gun, part sword, part motorcycle, and part coffee maker. He wasn't even sure how coffee makers kept appearing in his designs, he didn't even drink coffee. Mom said it was "just a phase" of his, that it was something his dad went through at Beacon, and to not pay it any real attention. According to dad it always came back to coffee makers. That, or washing machines.

Someday he had to ask what bizarre combination of genes he had inherited from his parents, like his and Nadja's sapphire-blue hair for one. But possible genetic disorders could wait. He had lethal toys to build.

"Nadja, could you please toss me the number three screwdriver, the welder, a wrench and another piece of Kriegonite sheet metal?" As he continued his work, a small welder landed neatly on the table, followed closely by a rectangular alloy piece. Perfect, now he just needed a wrench!

Several seconds passed.

Yet he remained wrench-less.

Perhaps Nadja wasn't fully listening? With some regret Axel tore his eyes from his project to survey his room, rotating in his squeaky chair away from the desk. The immediate floor was peppered with lab materials. Tools, bits of metal, and dozens of unusual mechanisms and gizmos were scattered all over, the floor. There were even large diagrams and a few textbooks resting on Axel's bed.  
>The only areas without a cluttered pile of knick-knacks was his sister's own desk by the nearby window. He looked in all areas of his workshop, seeing all the spare parts from previous projects. His repulsor gloves, the 'deep-purse' ammo storage system, the self-tying shoe laces. So many projects of his arranged in their own unique way.<p>

But his eyes did not find the phantom wrench. Not a trace.

"Hey sis where'd you put the- woah!"

Before he could even finish his inquiry, a blunt and weighty object came spinning through the air. Out of the corner of his eye Axel saw it come spinning straight at him with frightening precision. Axel ducked under its arc, barely avoiding a heavy hit to his forehead. The metal object hit the wall, bouncing off with faint clang and clattering onto his desk.  
>It was the wrench, thrown with frightening precision from a skilled marksmen. A strong-willed and proud sibling that now stood in the doorway, glaring at her baby brother with a smug grin on her lips. Katja.<p>

"If I had thrown that seriously Axel, you'd be feeling more than a headache right now."

"I don't know," Axel snarled "I think I avoided that pretty well." Katja wasn't impressed.

"Don't kid yourself. If you can get caught off guard by a lazy toss like that," Her grin faded. "imagine yourself in a dark forest, with no backup, no map, and no idea how many Grimm are going to be barreling down on you from any direction."  
>The image passed through Axel's mind.<p>

Far from home, from everyone he knew. Stuck in the middle of the night, lost, alone. Hundreds if not thousands of Grimm out there that could only desire to tear him limb from bloody limb.

"No." He responded, shaking his head to free his mind of the horrifying image he spontaneously conjured up, and returned his gaze to Katja's own cruel eyes.  
>"A true Hunter would not be afraid of giving their life in combat against the Grimm."<p>

There was a dead silence in the room, disturbed only by the occasional mouse-clicks heard from Nadja's bunk. Axel held his ground against his sister. He was determined to stand up to her one of these days. But then something strange happened.  
>Katja's eyes flashed a hint of something Axel had never seen in her since his accident; Sadness.<p>

"Axel, listen to me. You have the intelligence to build weapons, and you know the tactics of fighting Grimm. But brains or courage alone aren't going to save you from gunshots or claws. A true Hunter would have complete control over their senses. They could track Grimm based on smell or hearing alone, even if they were miles away."

"What are you getting at Katja." Axel ground out. "I'm busy."  
>Katja sighed.<p>

"You can't be a hunter Axel, if you can't see what you're trying to hunt. With those shots of pain you're getting from those eyes...Well, you wouldn't last a minute against the Grimm."

With a single contemptuous smirk, Katja left Axel with his pile of nick-nacks and a sense that he had just been stared down by some massive predator. It was like he was a measly scrap of meat that had been looked over and disregarded for being too small, not worth what little trouble it would take to eat him whole. It wasn't the best feeling.

At least if Katja had berated him it would've showed she was just being her usual petty self. But she showed genuine contemptuous pity for his supposed naivety. She meant those words, and knowing that just made it worse.

Axel slowly turned back to his project, the small mess of a workstation with his weapons in the dead center. Work and tinkering always helped him move on. With the state of his weapons right now, he'd certainly be occupied.  
>The damn things were so close to being perfected. All that needed fixing was the extension mechanism. When they were complete he'd be on a straight path to becoming a full-fledged Hunter. A life full of glory, adventure, combat, and a chance to explore the unknown. He'd grow up to be a strong, fierce, and famous hunter just like mom. That was what he wanted more than anything in the world….<p>

Wasn't it?

"Thanks for helping out there sis." Axel muttered, directing his voice toward the top bunk. As with so many times before, the only response from Nadja were the endless clicks and taps of her keyboard. Axel found it more than a bit odd that she seemingly hadn't noticed Katja busting into their room. Then again Nadja probably had some top of the line headphones to drown out the world around her, especially him. Ever since his accident she'd just drifted away from him.

He didn't blame her, not really. The accident had affected the whole family, not just him. It was nothing he could change right now. Maybe Nadja would be open to talking later, maybe in a few days, he couldn't be sure. Her bubbly and giggling personality had long since changed into something far more grating.  
>But, all Axel had right now was the task in front of him, the completion of his soon to be hunting weapons. Genius constructs if he did say so himself.<p>

"_You have the intelligence to build weapons"_

Axel's arm slowly stretched out to pick up the wrench, and felt it's cold form. He lazily turned it around and over in his hand. Then he picked up the welder, along with the sheet of Kriegonite. The mechanism was in front of him. He had all the tools at his disposal and the know-how to make it all work. Now, he just had to make the jump.

Just make the first adjustment.

"_You know the tactics of fighting Grimm"_

It was easy. He could do this. First came the wrench. Careful not to tamper with the inner workings, Axel began tightening the extension mechanism. The "gauntlets" - he had yet to come up with a name for them - would clamp up once the extension was activated. The programming worked, the blades themselves were just slightly out of alignment. A careful nudge or two fixed that. The bolts went in nicely enough, and he made doubly sure they were secure this time. Next came a screwdriver.

"_But brains or courage alone aren't going to save you from gunshots or claws"_

The sounds of machinery clicking into place were like music to his ears. The smell of metal and the feel of fitting mechanisms together, the rush of creating a tool and seeing it work or fail, both of which presented unique opportunities.

"_A true hunter would have complete control over their senses Axel. They could track Grimm based on smell or hearing alone, even if they were miles away."_

Failure showed problems that had to be fixed, and fixing them required understanding of the problem. Success showed that a solution had been reached, which meant it was possible to add on to that success. The sensation was almost euphoric. The joy he felt when working like this was so impalpable, so amazing he would sometimes shiver from the rush of creating. His lower eyelids were practically twitching in excitement.

All he had to do was complete this, and he had a future, a chance to fight and kill Grimm. That was what he desired, to fight. There was no doubt of that. He knew what he wanted. He was doing good. Better than good, he was great. He felt fine...

"_You can't be a hunter Axel, if you can't see what you're trying to hunt."_

Suddenly, everything in Axel's view went blurry. He couldn't see at all. The wrench had turned into a gray blob, the welder was some blue rod-like thing. Or was that the metal? For all he could tell it was a water-bottle. Nothing could be made out on his desk, it all blended together as some metal-gray mess mixed in with deep reds and dark blues, the only distinguishable things he could see were his hands. Either the focus settings on his eyes needed to be readjusted, or…

"Oh no-"

Suddenly his vision flashed red. An electrifying sensation zapped in his eyes. It was another episode attacking him, assaulting him from out of nowhere. The intensity of it made his eyes scrunch up in pain. His hands gripped the sides of the desk with all his strength, as he tried to distract steel himself against the inevitable crash. Like a lightning strike, the sensation shot through his nerves and right to his brain. There it branched out, going off in thousands of directions at once, filling his brain as a maelstrom.

Chaos. Pain. Blindness. He couldn't move, he couldn't see. He could barely even think through the storm his mind was thrown into. Like a fish in a tsunami, he was being swept under a crushing wave that threatened to drown him in murky, crushing agony. It was taking all his effort to resist moving. If he moved a single muscle the pain would just react and stab him with paralyzing aches like thousands of hot needles. His hands and forehead were sweating from the effort. He had to stand firm, he had to fight this.

Mom. He needed to call mom.  
>She could help him. Even if the meditation didn't work she could back him, give him a foundation to at least resist this pain that would just not leave him no matter what he tried! He couldn't let this beat him! If it did, he couldn't become a hunter, his lifelong dream! To kill. To fight. To die.<br>Of course it was the right path for him, the path of a warrior like mom! He wanted it, he needed it! But these episodes came at random, and always so suddenly like this. If something like this happened when he was tinkering, if he was on the battlefield….

"_With those shots of pain you're getting from those eyes...Well, you wouldn't last a minute against the Grimm."_

This was just impossible! Between his sisters words bouncing around in his head, and the searing pain that was overriding all of his senses to the point of unconsciousness...It was too much! It didn't matter if he fought or surrendered to this enemy, either one would only bring him pain. What could he do against it? It was all so overwhelming, so agonizing that he almost didn't notice the sounds of tiny, dainty footsteps slowly creeping up behind him. Almost.

"Nadja. Do you need something?" He was trying his best not to wail his lungs out right then and there, and it was taking all his focus on squeezing the desk just to make coherent speech. He couldn't take this right now.

"I'm curious on the state of your weapons brother." Unfortunately Nadja didn't seem to notice the fact her brother wasn't moving an inch while she made idle chit-chat.

"Almost done. Extender needs fixing."

"You still haven't done that? I thought you were ready to get back in the holo-room."

"I...Miscalculated some variables."

"You mean you thought it would all work on the first go."

"That's a...Nice way of putting it." His hand clenched as another bolt of pain sparked him.

"I think you should start from the ground up, redo your plans."

"Don't need to. Plans are fine. Dad looked over them."

'You know, dad's been wrong before. He did make the dryer eject explosive laundry."

"I trust him sis. Don't you?" Axel's brow was growing beady with sweat.

"I do, its just that he can make mistakes sometimes. I mean these weapons might fail."

"They won't Nadja." Another spike, another twitch. Nadja paused at Axel's subdued tone.

"Can you be sure? there's hundreds of ways it might go wrong. It might be safer to just-" Finally the floodgates cracked. Axel's fist spasmed for a split second. Axel clenched it with all the strength he could muster through the flames and barbs in his body.

"It. Will. Work!" With a single word filled with the pain and desperation of a mind on the brink of collapse, he shouted far louder than he meant to. Nadja jumped slightly behind him, likewise caught off guard by the outburst.

Axel couldn't see, he couldn't think. The gesture only made things worse. Now the pain in his arm was almost unbearable, like being wrapped in barb wire. What's more he was pretty sure that Nadja wasn't going to take it well.

"I didn't think you were so married to throwing your life away brother."  
>No, not well at all.<p>

"I mean you were always courageous, but I didn't think you of all people would be throwing themselves on the front lines like this." Axel had long since learned that all women in the family had sharp tongues. Nadja was no different, if anything she was a prodigy of venomous speech, and the ice in her voice spoke well enough of that.

"Last I checked sis," Axel's jaw clenched. "You were looking to become a Hunter."

"Of course. I have an ideal skill-set for a Hunter. I'm smart, fast, and calculating."

"So you have said. Many times."

"Not to mention the Krieger name will help with getting notoriety."

"I know sis." he snarled on accident, silencing Nadja for a few brief wonderfully silent moments of reprieve. But it was all too short.

"Brother...Why do you want to do this? With your skill-set Dad would gladly give you a position in his research division. I bet you could be churning out new inventions to help people all over Remnant in no time at all if you focused on mechanics and cybernetic technology."

"Inventions entertain me. They don't inspire me like they do for dad."

"You didn't answer my question. Why do you want to be aHunter?"

"Sis, please...I'm kind of busy right now.."

Axel's mind wouldn't stop coursing with pain. With those last few words, it definitely jumped in speed. What were once rapid bolts traveling through his head were now growing into a hellish inferno, burning his entire being. He couldn't think about her question, he had to focus on holding back the pain. But he wanted to fight. He wanted to be a glorious warrior fight in humanities name! He knew exactly why he was doing this. He knew his reasons perfectly.

So why couldn't he hold out against the pain, like it was eating away at him whenever he tried to push it back? The fire from Nadja's question burned almost as intensely as the pain did. Why did he want to become a Hunter? Though Nadja seemed to reach her own conclusion.

"Is it because of that girl?"

Everything stopped.  
>The quiet breeze through the house, the creak of wood under Axel's hand, it all fell silent. To Axel, the world drifted away, fading into blackness when those words escaped Nadja's lips and slithered their way into his mind. But the question did not upset him, or even exacerbate his condition. It sparked something deep within.<p>

Through the raging flames of his attack, there was a single spot in his mind. Almost unnoticeable, but Axel could feel it clearly now. A place that had lost all sensation in spite of the storm. It was a small spark of clarity, a sliver of his thought processes that were free of all pain. One piece that could still think, and think of only one image.

* * *

><p>Rain that fell past him in the open air. The dark gray clouds that clung to the sky. The cracked and rotted buildings of the slums. His hand reaching up to grasp at something far beyond his reach. The silent wail of a single girl above him.<br>The jet black hair that thrashed in the high wind. The pure, shining, glistening golden eyes that added their own drops to the rain at what they saw.

* * *

><p>"Right," Nadja brushed her hair aside while Axel was affixed to his desk. "That makes sense. Throw your life away because of that faunus." Nadja's words were dripping with venom and covered in that same tone she had begun using since his accident.<br>"That's perfectly logical. You find someone you like being with, you want to go off and play away from your family. Your siblings." Axel could hear a sharp inhale from his sister.

"You play with her, you have fun out on the city rooftops. You have the time of your life and start to like her. Her a faunus street-rat, you a child of a multi-billion dollar weapons manufacturer. What could've possibly gone wrong there?"

Her words bit like a viper. If there was one thing that hurt Axel just as much as his episodes, it was hearing his baby sister spout such blind hate of a people she didn't even know. But the real shocker to Axel wasn't Nadja's words, disheartening as they were. No, the true surprise was that Axel had the brain capacity to even understand those words.

"Is that all you're thinking about? Sacrificing yourself, just so you could have a chance at finding her again when she ran away? Giving your life because some girl blinded you?"

The more Axel thought of...Her, the more his mind started to clear. The pain was still intense beyond belief, but more and more sections of his body were losing that stabbing sensation. He could see the desk more clearly now, distinguish between the various tools and bits of scrap before him. He was even able to process his sisters words now, and he did not like what he was hearing.

"Don't you have something to say brother?" She spat out like a foul taste.

"Nadja." Axel ground out his sister's name, grip still tight on his desk. "I'm very sorry to ask this of you, but could you please just stop talking?"  
>Nadja only took that as a challenge.<p>

"What, you can't face the facts? That that girl was a nothing but a lying, manipulative-" Axel's fist suddenly spasmed, sending another burst of electricity through his entire arm. For a split second his arm that had remained affixed to the desk lifted itself up ever so slightly. Then with force of will that was slowly regaining control of his body, the fist came crashing down on the desk. Several gizmos and tools were scattered from his desk, loudly clattering as a rain of metal on the bedroom floor. For a few seconds, the room was dead silent.

Axel remained where he sat. By now he was slumped over his desk as his breathing came heavy to his lungs, weighing down on him as if he was burdened by bricks, compressing him. His throat felt itchy. His hands were numb, especially the one that had slammed the desk. The rest of his body was covered in the familiar prickly sensation, though much less prominent. The only exception were his eyes, which felt like balls of ice shoved in his skull. They numbed the initial pain, while at the same time creating a whole new type of discomfort. With weariness drenching his entire being, Axel's eyes inched open, slowly crawling apart against the pressure of his exhaustion.

But despite all the sensation he felt, that the after-effects of his pain still lingered in his skull, he could see. He could think. His thoughts weren't being drowned out by the attack on his senses. There was a haze, a sluggishness like tar slowing him. It might stick around for a minute or two, yet he could think and comprehend his situation. There weren't any white hot needles in his limbs or chest, or burning sensation in his head. There wasn't the temptation to curl into a ball or smash whatever was nearest to him. Something had changed, and his sister had somehow triggered the reaction.

"Nadja, do you-" She wasn't there. Axel's vision shifted to the bunk beds, where Nadja must've taken residence. But she wasn't on her bed either. In fact, her computer, mouse, and odd holo-equipment were also gone. With one glance at the open door, Axel knew she was long gone now. Probably in the library again, looking for peace and quiet from her insane brother.

The image of him sitting in a corner, giggling while raving about saving all faunus would probably stick to her mind, intentionally or not. A painful wound that needed to be mended. But to force change on his sister would only harm her more, so the only course of action he could think of was to let her be and blow off steam.

In the mean time, he could at least see enough to finish up his damn project. Axel rotated his chair, leaning down to pick up the welding torch and Kriegonite. Just put them all together and see if they fit.  
>Hopefully they would this time. The inner workings of the blades were tuned up and fit together like legos. Metal legos. Energized metal legos. Specifically legos that worked in conjunction with each other to extend blades capable of slicing through Grimm. They could also shoot explosive dust rounds.<br>Possibly make coffee too if he….

"Dear God dad, what mad brain did you leave me with?" Axel muttered.  
>Questions for another day, if he didn't end up incinerating himself somehow. With a loud sigh Axel slapped on a pair of goggles, a necessity for this kind of work, especially with his eyes. Even if he could see clearly, he still didn't have a complete handle on their various mechanisms. Trying to activate the light-masking function might end up triggering night vision or the zoom-in.<br>At the very least, it was safer to leave the eyes as is and not risk a malfunction. Besides,it was always fun to use more traditional methods of crafting weapons.

He flicked the switch, and the welder burned a bright-blue flame, melting the Kriegonite into place over the inner workings. The slightest error could be catastrophic to the blades, so he had to maintain a steady hand, sliding the tool along the adjoining portions of metal with the grace of a skilled painter. Somehow his hands were now in solid working order, not wavering once while laying in the final layer of his weapons. At last they'd be completed. Every part would work, he was sure.

The Dust casters had endured their fair share of malfunctions, most of which resulted in something exploding or being electrocuted. Sometimes both. But they were ready, with some advice from Weiss, a daughter of one of dad's associates. Her insight had been invaluable for his project, advising him on the potency of various dust types and how to best harness them. It was odd really, that a girl who was petty and impervious to others could be so professional and even polite when it came to technical matters. Her remarks on his craftsmanship and sketches, while curt at time, were constructive and very helpful. Her words even helped perfect his caster designs, somehow.

Weiss Schnee, childish and composed in all facets of her life. One of the greatest questions on his mind was how such a paradox of a woman could become a Hunter, with her whirlwind of emotions. Weren't Hunters supposed to be in control of body _and _mind? Shouldn't they possess a degree of sanity and common sense!?

Then again, maybe someone with a few issues to sort through could become as capable of fighting Grimm as anyone else. After all, "The Grimm Reaper" was known as a one-woman army, yet she could be just as simple-minded as any child. Yet that didn't stop her from tearing Grimm apart with her bare hands. "The Wicked Witch" could be remarkable bitter and cold when in person, but she was respected as a professional Hunter and teacher.  
>Maybe if a person like Weiss could be a Hunter, then someone like him with a few minor visual problems should be able to as well. Right?<p>

Axel shook his head, refocusing on the welding. He couldn't afford to get distracted during this delicate process The covering was almost done, thankfully. The heat from the welder only added to his sweat-laden brow. Hopefully this would be the last version he'd have to make for a while, unless these spontaneously combusted in the middle of a fight, or scorched the family pizza, or some other terrifying malfunctions. He sincerely hoped the blade extension mechanisms wouldn't react on a whim.

Like when he scratched his nose.

With the image of his blades giving him a nasty piercing embedded in his mind, Axel fueled his resolve to quickly but carefully finished welding on the plate, melting the alloy into its place. Thank god it was aligned properly this time. The edges of the weld were glowing a bright red, but a quick application of a compressed cold air gun took care of that, cooling it all to one silvery surface. But on that surface there were a few blotches, possibly soot.

Taking a rag he quickly removed the stains, rubbing diligently to ensure they were spotless. Next, he grabbed another, darker rag to rub in soft polishing wax. His attack on the metal was absolutely brutal. His every motion assaulted the enemies of dust and stains, wiping them from the face of his weapon. To fail in refinement was to fail utterly, or something poetic to that effect.

After a long instance spent polishing the metal, he was at last satisfied when he glimpsed his own face reflected off the brilliant surface. The gauntlets were to be kept concealed in his sleeves, but there was no reason they couldn't shine like stars when he took them out. Perhaps he could even blind people with the brilliant glow from his expert polishing. That, or through the use of some burst of light.

_Note to self, consider adding flare functions to gauntlets for surprise attacks._

Having scribbled down his latest idea, Axel stepped back to admire his handiwork. There they were, assembled. Axel could see them clear as day when he removed his goggles. The sleek metal that shined off the rays of the golden afternoon sun through the windows. The black leather that would wrap around his arms detailed with flame-like patterns. The metal itself was smooth and plane, but he could add some decorations later. As they were now, he loved them. Two gauntlets, mirror images of each other. Now he had weapons to slay the Grimm without mercy, to help him carve a path into the career of a Hunter. They weren't just any weapons, they were his works of art.

Axel's arms slipped into the gauntlets. Once his forearms were in, the gauntlets activated their clamps, extending piece by piece. The folded leather likewise wrapped around his arms, and the clamps secured tightly in place. The fit was perfect, fitting on to him like a second skin. He rotated his arms to get the feel, and found it ideal. There was some weight to them, but it was a good weight that would keep him aware of them. The alloy Kreigonite would be almost unnoticeable to him in combat, would hold up to considerable blunt force trauma without denting, and one would be hard pressed to find a blade capable of slicing it. With all the layers and equipment in these weapons, they were remarkably light, and rather spiffy with the shiny metal. They were perfect.

"Now I just need to come up with a name for you guys."


	3. Testing

Authors Note: Welcome back! The chapter this week will finally feature a canon rwby character, aka "Witch Tex." This one was originally a fair bit shorter, but I ended up fusing two chapters together into this one. You'll probably be able to guess where I mushed them together.  
>This was a fun one to write. I always wanted to a RVB fic but never got around to it, but now I can write Glynda! Better yet I can write her unique friendship with Katherine! If you have any questions, go ahead and PM me and I'll answer them as best I can. Enjoy!<p>

* * *

><p>Testing<p>

The Krieger estate was a very large place. Named 'Krieger Manor' when it was built, the building was befitting the profitable head of Krieger Korp and one of the most legendary Hunters on Remnant. When Katherine and Alexander married they agreed they would design and build their own house where they could pursue their interests to their hearts content. It's design reflected the preferences of each of them.

Per Katherine's input, the manor had a large and beautiful garden on all sides. Flowers of many different shades of red and blue covered the expansive lawn. Driving up to the manor, one would be greeted with a sea of radiant flowers that waved about in the soft breeze. The garden was maintained by Katherine when she was home, and several automated gardening bots when she was away. When it was just her, Katherine could look after the hundreds of flowers by herself. It was always well-kept and a joy to look upon for visitors, and a large source of pride for Katherine whenever she looked on them.  
>The backyard was even more expansive, and decorated with numerous evergreen's that gave shade to a winding cobblestone path. There was a large and lovely fountain close to the manor, and an expansive guesthouse on the far-side as well. There was also a large pool and hut-tub opposite of that, and in the dead center of the field there was a large and beautiful patch of Katherine's favorite flower, sunflowers. If there was anything she loved more than coffee, blue hair, or even fighting Grimm, it was looking after the flowers she had loved since she was a toddler, and they were by far her favorite part of the manor. She planned and designed the gardens and pathways with meticulous scrutiny, to the extent that every twist and turn of the path and placement of trees were made with the utmost precision.<p>

While the surroundings of the manor were designed by Katherine, the manor itself was planned with pride by Alexander. The walls were a shining deep blue, decorated in pearly white. Numerous windows from the four floors looked out on all sides of the manor. The inside was a veritable maze for those unfamiliar in its layout. A library, a dining hall, a small theater, an entire floor dedicated to training, the manor had it all, including a private sound-proof room for Alexander's work.  
>The manor was also an idle location for Alex and Katherine's careers. Katherine had an entire floor for her and her kids training, which had, amongst a lot of standard exercise equipment, a state-of-the-art holo-room to recreate any location in Remnant as well as hundreds of combat AI's for practice.<br>Alexander meanwhile had an expansive workshop to tinker around in when he wasn't tinkering at work, and there was a meeting room for Krieger Korp head-staff meetings. The manor was also a popular place for parties and high-class dinners, and had a ballroom to accommodate.  
>Both husband and wife took a great pride in walking the halls at night, seeing all they had made together grow from Alex's fevered sketches into a real home. Alex finally had a place where he could enjoy solitude from the rest of the world and pursue other interests, while Katherine gained a quiet joy from cultivating a garden all her own like she had always wanted.<p>

The four Krieger children likewise took joy in having such a big house to play in. Naturally, when children of a potentially mad scientist and a blue-haired juggernaut of a Hunter played with each other, collateral damage was virtually guaranteed, if not an inevitability. Anton and Katja would often chase each other from floor to floor while battering aside more than a few objects on their way. They played for keeps, and the two were known among the housing staff for their damaging games of tag.

Axel and Nadja though were interested in more cooperative exploration. The two journeyed the massive library, Axel dropping books from on high down to his little sister. Whereas the "Hell Twins" were rather destructive in their exploration, the younger Kriegers were a lot more quiet and controlled. Nadja could slip in and out of a room without being noticed if she wanted to, while Axel would move so fast and from such unexpected angles that most people wouldn't even notice he was there before he was already gone.

But while the inside of the manor was a maze, the outside was a rock wall, and an enticing one at that. The manor had numerous points to grab and decorations like gargoyles on its walls. This made the building ideal for a would-be climber. Knowing this, Katherine explicitly forbade her children to try climbing the manor given its height and smooth climbing surfaces.  
>Naturally all four of the children tried it at one point or another, with varying results. Anton and Katja were less than proficient and left with their fair share of bruises. Nadja only made any progress with her grappling hooks, and yet Axel somehow managed to reach the top with only his hands and feet.<p>

Just as they explored the manor, all four of the Krieger siblings had their favorite areas of the house. The Hell Twins were almost always in the training floor, working so hard that they put a strain on the equipment. Nadja meanwhile had practically set up shop in the library, reading through book after book in an ocean of literature.  
>Axel's favorite area was the workshop, where Alexander spent his own free time. It was an inventor's dream come true, filled with various materials and tools for the creation of many an insane creation. The two had built many a contraption that would either blow up in their faces, work amazingly on the first try, or blow up in their faces because it was working amazingly.<br>Today it was once again in use by Axel, where he was running tests on his weapons.

For several days he had examined the weapons top to bottom. Daytime was spent largely in the holo-training room, and nights consisted of tweakings and refinement. He would have worked twenty-four hours straight, but a combination of his mom's loving yet strangely demonic prodding, and Nadja's tired groans convinced him to succumb to annoying necessities like food and sleep. There were some days he loathed being a squishy human, even if he did have top of the line cybernetic eyes.

Day in day out he spent running tests, only stopped when he experienced his episodes with a vengeance. They were becoming more frequent, more intense. He didn't have a clue when, if ever there was going to be fixed. Just that the sensation of thousands of hot needles grew worse with each attack.

On this late sunny afternoon, Axel was still reeling from another attack many hours before. The meditation session had gone only marginally better today, and left him more exhausted than anything else. It was a small improvement, the only upside being that he was now collapsed on the couch out of exhaustion instead of groaning, aching fatigue. At the very least, he could see what he was doing now, looking through his gauntlets while his notes rested on his lap.

No segment was hidden from his high-tech eyes as he looked for the slightest flaw or defect in the weapons. He was determined to ensure they would function perfectly in combat. The casters fired dead-on in the shooting range, thankfully not singeing his hands now that he had extended the casters reach out from his palms.

The extension mechanisms worked wonderfully as well. They could reach out at ninety degree angles, though he wouldn't use that function until he got used to them. He didn't have much desire to get a piercing or scars, despite Katja's insistence to the contrary that they weren't that bad, and in fact very attractive. He'd learned the benefit of scars when he'd fallen and he wasn't in any hurry to gain more. With that in mind, he locked down the blades function slightly.  
>For now they would only extend forward, and they did so very well with the unusually satisfying clanks and whirrs of advanced machinery. Axel lost count of how many times he simply extended and retracted the blades and casters simply for the joy of hearing that metallic<em> "kashunk clink clink."<em>

Ejection functions were proving...Satisfactory. The real difficulty with ejecting blades for dual wielding wasn't the swordplay itself, that was the easy part under his mom's and Aunt Glynda's teaching. Rather it was the difficulty in catching them after ejection. Though that could be solved with practice and experience.  
>Other than that, the weapons were excellent. The combination function was flawless to assemble the double-edged form. The only real difficulty was the dust activation. Though that was no fault of the weapon...<p>

Axel grimaced as he jotted down notes on the swords performance. His craftsmanship was successful. Incredibly so. He had spent much time researching the history of Remnant weapon crafting and diligently reading the weekly weapons magazines, and he had to admit that these were excellent tools. Even his dad agreed they were well-made, especially when Axel made him promise his praises weren't just his father's kind words. The weapons were perfect.

The problem was him.

His episodes had led to more than a few painful affairs at the fists of kill-droids or Grimm claws, and those were only on the non-lethal setting. One such incident occurred just as he was about to finish the last of an Ursa pack. The majority had been eliminated with relative ease, and the last one had estimated its odds of survival.  
>Naturally it had fled. Axel had quickly pursued and was about to pounce it. But before the blades even made contact, his eyes erupted with the sensation of needles making contact with his pupils. Like so many times before that sensation had branched off from his brain through his entire body. What would have been a quick and stylish kill turned into a painful - both physically and emotionally - tumble over his own feet and a nearby rock. The mistake had launched him down a steep hill, where he was naught but a ragdoll to smash against the ground as well as through a few trees before ending up in the simulated mud.<br>The Ursa claws came crashing down on him soon after.

His Aura was strong enough that he endured the brunt of the damage thankfully, but his back still felt sore from that days old failure. His failure. Because he wasn't good enough, wasn't strong enough to overcome his impediment.

With a sigh his notebook was closed and placed next to the gauntlets. Today had been a painfully long day filled with hard training, homework, and more than a few ugly looks from his sister. He was still determined to keep training and working. More than anything he wanted to get out there in the world. To fight and kill Grimm, to stand atop the legions of beasts he had slain

At least that's what he thought he wanted ever since his accident. Nowadays it just didn't seem so appealing, less courageous and heroic than he first thought. He wasn't feeling particularly guilty about the prospect of killing Grimm. That task was a given as a Hunter. He enjoyed fighting, much to his mother's pride and his father's dread, but not for the sake of killing his enemies. Grimm hunting was a necessity in Remnant. But he didn't want to be a person who was laughing as he carved the enemy to bits.  
>Between his soreness, crappy eyes, and the loss of Nadja's view of him as a brother, he was having the worst week. Then, a smirk came to his lips.<p>

"Correction brother, you are having the worst week of your life so far. You will have many more which to screw up."  
>Axel made his voice high-pitched and nasally, mimicking his sister as if she were a squawking peacock. Though the effort made his throat hoarse, almost like karma was striking him once again. He quickly grabbed his water bottle, chugging it down and washing his throat. He sighed, satisfied with the nourishment.<p>

"At least I have water." He chuckled.

"Now now Axel." A new voice echoed through the hall from behind him, punctuated by the loud clip-clop of heels. Axel's hair stood on end, like the bells of hell, the familiar sound signaled the arrival of only one person.

"Do not be so quick to mock your sister. She is far more valuable than a bottle of water."

The motherly yet disciplinary tone, the steady beat of the heels. He knew them well. Axel slowly rose from his slouched position with a faint grunt, turning to see this unexpected guest. Of course there were the jet black heeled boots that reached to her knees. That oddly patterned short purple cape flowing behind her as she briskly strode through the halls. The pale blonde hair, and of course the piercing green eyes decorated with professional oval glasses and perpetually cross eyebrows. The Wicked Witch, or as the Krieger children called her…

"Aunt Glynda!" Axel sprung from his chair. All feelings of exhaustion lifted themselves from his body. With rocket-like velocity the young Krieger flew from the couch, heading straight into Glynda's arms. First perfected by Katherine for usage in pranking her friends, the trademark Krieger charge.

But Glynda had literally run into the Krieger children one too many times before. With a snap of her finger, the blue-haired projectile lost all velocity, suspended in midair mere inches from her figure. Axel's pounce had been completely halted by Goodwitch's magical prowess. Now he was suspended in a faint purple field, floating about as if in water.

"Damn. You got me Aunt." Axel laughed as he hovered in the swirling bubble.

"Mind your language young man," Glynda waggled her finger.

"Oh come on, you're always saying to not be afraid of self-expression."

"Yes," Glynda sighed. "but you need not..Revel in it in polite company. Understand?"

"Yes Auntie. Can you put me down now?"

"Can you put me down..."

Axel sighed. "Please?"

With an arched eyebrow Glynda dispelled the bubble, leaving Axel to promptly fall to the hard stone floor with a surprised yelp and a _thump_. Some days were like this, especially whenever he'd try to jump Glynda. It wasn't always easy and she had recently gotten wise to the Krieger children's strategies, but it was always fun to see her stoic exterior falter in the face of adorable children.

"Sorry about that. Are you hurt at all?" She asked.

"Well, my entire body is ridiculously sore from training." Axel pried himself up.  
>"But otherwise I am absolutely peachy." He gave a toothy grin. "I could run fifty miles, yessir that's me."<p>

"Your sense of sarcasm is intact at least." Glynda mused. She extended a hand to him.

"Thanks." He replied, rising with her help.

"Thank your mother. You somehow inherited her attitude."

"I'll take that as a complement Auntie," he chuckled "um, what about my dad? Do I have his-"

"You mostly lack his more eccentric tendencies but you retain his respectable intellect. Thankfully. Now let us leave it at that."

Axel shrugged in compliance. Glynda's knowledge of his dad's teenage-era peculiarities were for the moment concealed to him. For the moment he was simply content to see a friendly face. Even if that face more often than not displayed a perpetual expression of annoyance to all around her.  
>Axel slowly strode to the couch, grabbing his gauntlets and reattaching them to his arms. Glynda watched the mysterious objects with some interest.<p>

"You have completed your weapons." she observed.

"Yup. About time too. It took me way too long just to fix the extending mechanism."

"On the contrary, you should be proud of yourself. Most students require an entire school year in Signal Academy to construct and perfect their own. Even your father took longer to make his...Unique construct. Congratulations Axel."Glynda eyed the gauntlets with practiced eyes, scanning every detail in milliseconds, and found the craftsmanship to be satisfactory.

"Thanks Auntie." Axel glowed at his idol's appraisal.  
>With a final adjustment to his gauntlet's securing mechanisms, he looked up to face Glynda with a proud smile. But Glynda's eyes gazed into Axel's own, and saw he wasn't nearly as cheerful as he looked. His smile was being faked, and the glint in his eyes was dull. The little Krieger boy was merely putting on a show for her. Unfortunately it wasn't one she was unfamiliar with.<br>The boy had yet to notice the slight crimson tint in his eyes glowing circuitry-like patterns. Alexander theorized it was some chemical imbalance affecting the glow of the circuitry. But Whatever it was, the appearance of the shade indicated the aftermath of his episodes, and today it was more prevalent than Glynda had ever seen before, in both person and the images Katherine emailed her. Glynda had a knack for finding the smaller details, but she didn't need it to see the red marks in Axel's eyes. They looked completely bloodshot, as if he'd been unable to sleep for days straight. Given the nature of his episodes, that wasn't too far-fetched.

"So, what brings you to our humble abode?" He asked, not noticing Glynda's inspection. She refocused her attention back to him.

"For the most part I am here on business with Katherine."

"Can I ask if this business involves Grimm?" Axel asked with a sly grin.

"Hopefully you will get to hear about the mission I have, but I must inform your parents over dinner tonight first." Glynda looked at her watch.

"Which should be in thirty minutes as a matter of fact."

"Really?" Axel was surprised. "I thought it was still mid-afternoon.."

"Indeed?"

"Indeed."

"...You work too hard. I rarely say this, but take some time to relax Axel."  
>Glynda spoke with a rare sympathetic look in her eyes. She beckoned Axel to follow her, and he quickly caught up with her in a stroll down the halls of Kreiger Manor. He was at first surprised that Glynda of all people was cautioning him on overworking when working was supposedly all she did, at least if his mom's tales of Glynda's legendarily brutal work-ethic during their own days in Beacon were to be believed.<p>

"One must move forward. But charge without fear, and you lose your footing." Axel quoted.

"I am pleased you remember your assigned reading at least."

"I suppose that's one of my dad's more beneficial qualities." Axel chuckled.

"True."

"Say Aunt, what exactly was my dad like in Beacon? I tried asking mom about their school days and she just keeps laughing whenever it comes up."

"Not surprising really. We all laughed at those two in Beacon. Your father may have been a bit frail in combat, but I could never question his intelligence. He can always craft a device to solve problems." She sighed. "They didn't always work as I'm sure you know, but at the very least he worked hard. If he couldn't create a device to solve the problem, he'd use his words and logic to find a solution. Insome ways he was the leader of team KAMO."

"Really?" Axel asked. "I thought Ozpin was the-"

"Ozpin was far different back then to the man you now know." Glynda interrupted, and Axel could swear he saw a supressed grin on her lips, as if she could barely resist laughing like his mom did. "He was far more...Free-spirited I'd say."

There was so much Axel didn't know about his parent's background that there were whole nights spent amongst the Krieger children speculating on which of their parents proposed, who caused more collateral damage to the Beacon campus, the usual thing children wondered about.

"Your father was far more composed and logical with KAMO's missions and assignments, at least when Katherine wasn't teasing him. But throughout school, Alex always stayed dedicated to his projects, until he somehow ended up building that colossal company of his."  
>Axel' mind raced with hundreds of scenarios of his parents as teens. Glynda's description of his dad was amazing to hear, given how often she was meticulous in her criticism of others. Coming from her this was a great appraisal of his dad, a man who was often described as a mad scientist in school, and an only slightly less mad scientist in adulthood.<p>

"Hey Auntie, you've said only two people ever matched your flawless record at Beacon. I know dad was one, because he sometimes rambles about his 'glory days' at dinner."

"Yes. Your father was one, the other was your mother's best friend." Axel nodded in response as he remembered the name his mom rarely spoke.

"Morrigan. Oh yeah, she was on KAMO as well. From what mom said, she was a great Hunter, right?"

Glynda's eyes flashed with an emotion that almost nobody saw: sadness.

"She was very much so. Not only was she my academic equal, but she had even rivaled me in combat. Between her and your father's fierce competition, I had my work cut out for me."

"I bet you loved it though Aunt, having rivals that had you constantly on your toes."

"...It was not...Unpleasant." she admitted, but but with a smile. "Morrigan was a great rival, and an even greater friend. She was always kind towards others, especially team KAMO, where she was practically the mom. She was great friends with your mother. The two of them were virtually inseparable."

"I wish I had met her. I only remember being at her funeral when I was about six."

"Her passing was hard on all of us, your mother most of all. But we know she is in a place truly worthy of her," Glynda looked to the side as her lips curled in a petulant frown. "and hopefully one that can withstand her glee for apocalyptic spell-work."

"...Okay...I bet a lot has changed since your time."  
>Axel looked up at her with genuine awe. In the orange sunlight of a hot summer's day, the golden rays shined on Glynda's hair. She glowed as an almost divine figure and legendary Hunter, talking to him as a friend and a godson. He had read entire books on famous and notable Hunters in history, and Glynda was one of the most decorated of them all. One who stood against entire armies, overwhelming odds. Maybe this was what he truly wanted. To be a legendary hero.<p>

"It has indeed. These days I am not focused solely on battling Grimm…"

"Wait, what else could you possibly be focused on?" Axel asked, slightly confused.

"Protecting, Axel. Defending the future to be specific. I did say I was mostly here on business with your mother, but there is another reason for my arrival."

"You mean your intense love for children showering you with praise?"

There was a brief but deathly silent pause from her.

"The other reason is that I hope to ensure the future of Remnant has protectors. The next generation inevitably must take up the duty of the previous ones. Leadership of nations, production of goods, the collecting of knowledge and so forth. But in this world the most important duty is the protection of human and faunus kind, and for that we need men and women willing to rise up to the challenge and serve as guardians for others. Today I hope to ensure the future has another such guardian." Axel's eyebrow arched in response.  
>Tonight was certainly going to be interesting, even when not considering the fact that the "Twin Devils of Beacon" would be under the same roof.<p>

Speaking of which, he couldn't pass up this golden opportunity before him.

"Aunt Glynda, you said my dad was an excellent student. But what about mom? What kind of academic proficiency did she have?"  
>As if one cue, Glynda's previously neutral expression turned sour. She looked deeply irritated, and if what dad said about the womens' relationship, this was going to be very entertaining and yet very destructive.<p>

"Ah yes." Glynda rested a hand on Axel's shoulder. "Firstly, it bears saying that your mother was an absolute genius when it came to physical combat and battlefield tactics. She has well-earned her reputation for being a reaper of the Grimm. But to put it bluntly, if I may?"

"Sure thing." Axel said. He knew exactly where this was going.

"When it came to homework, group projects, or any task that required even the most minuscule degree of studying, your mother was without a doubt," Glynda breathed in deep. "the absolute worst student that I ever had the immense displeasure of having to work with!" She bellowed, speaking with some unknown force that made the ground tremble.

"I HEARD THAT WITCH!" Katherine's voice echoed through the entire house like the thunderous wrath of whatever divine power existed. Though if there was a god, it had no doubt been long since scared off by mom's voice. Glynda was hardly convinced though and in fact responded in kind.

"THAT WAS MY INTENTION DAMON!"

There was a good chance that between the "Wicked Witch" and "Carnage" Katherine, no amount of money would be able to repair the damage brought forth from their "childhood squabbles." Surely, dinner was going to interesting.

* * *

><p>"So Glynda, that made for three dented walls, a cracked column and five broken windows."<p>

"Six windows Katherine, you forgot the one you jumped back through for that tackle."

"Ah yes, how could I?" Katherine replied, more focused on washing several plates than going against her former classmates photographic memory. She had learned that lesson one too many times before in school. Although, there was one thing she could use against her.

"I definitely won today." She chuckled. Glynda's eyebrow twitched at those words.

"I humbly disagree. The fight concluded without any clear victor, Damon."

"We could start another bout if you're up for it, Witch."  
>Katherine looked up from her work, dishes still covered in soapy water. She flashed a devious grin, and a faint puff of aura flowed from her body as a soft current. Almost unnoticeable to most, but a woman with honed senses, like Glynda could notice the smallest amount of energy. She slowly turned around with washcloth in hand, facing Katherine with a neutral yet no less deadlier gaze.<p>

"If we do, Alex will, despite his physical frailties, make us both clean it up. I would rather not risk the wrath of a man who once detonated the art building on accident. Nor the wrath of your children, who will undoubtedly be angry that their desserts, along with the kitchen were reduced to a smoking crater by our fighting. Again." Glynda's words did not fall on deaf ears, for she definitely knew that Katherine's children were her kryptonite.

"Bah, curse you and your magnificent logical brain." Katherine grumbled, pulling a face at Glynda. Though she couldn't help but laugh in her mind at their relationship.  
>Her the boisterous and only occasionally thick-headed battering-ram, Glynda the studious prodigy, sporting considerable...Confidence in her own abilities. It was as if from the second they met, they were destined to argue, bicker, and of course fight. The entire student body had felt the foundations of the campus shake, frankly it was a wonder they hadn't vaporized the entire campus in their first week of school.<p>

Well, they almost had. It was only the collective efforts of Ozpin, Morrigan, Port, Oobleck, and Alex that they ever came to a tentative truce, and even then there was the occasional unscheduled campus demolition.

After that it was a long string of squabbles that, through years of forced cooperation, budded into an odd sort of respect. While they were intense rivals to this very day, they possessed a grudging respect for each other and became a lethal duo whenever they had to fight side by side, which was actually a common occurrence when they eventually graduated.  
>Many years of fierce competition and missions eventually mellowed them out to the point they could work together civilly...Even if they did tend to upset the tectonic plates a bit when they got into debates.<p>

But while they did risk causing cataclysms every other week, they always trusted each other. They would bicker, but they shared a deep bond that made them inseparable when in the field. When they put their lives on the line, they simply knew the other would be there to help them out. When one was sad or truly angry, the other would be there to listen and help them through it. This trust combined with years of shared experience actually made them realize that despite their differences, they considered the other a good friend. They still got into fights, but they did it in a more...Friendly way...

This friendship extended to Katherine's family, thankfully without collateral damage. Alex and Glynda always considered each other equals and respectable people, and Glynda was very happy for them both when the two started dating. Unlike most, Glynda wasn't annoyed at the two being so adorable with each other in school. She could always see the spark in their eyes when they were together.  
>When Katherine and Axel announced that they were going to marry, Glynda's lower lip trembled for the first time in her life, so joyous at their union that <strong>she <strong>tackled Katherine out of sheer happiness for them both. She was the maid of honor at their extravagant wedding, a duty she fulfilled admirably as she managed the affairs of the ceremony.  
>It came to the point where Glynda was one of the first to hear about Katherine's pregnancy. While that news had been incredible enough, Glynda almost coughed up her drink when Katherine asked her to be the childrens' godmother.<p>

The request had been interpreted as a bad joke the first time Katherine brought it up. But Katherine had clarified that nobody else could be a more trustworthy and kind godmother to the children than Glynda.  
>At her friend's words, the Wicked Witch humbly accepted to be there for the young Kriegers. At the time she had said it was only to ensure the next generation produced capable Hunters. But one look at the two, then soon after, four children as babies sleeping in their cribs had caused a subtle change in the normally cold and logical woman. The Wicked Witch quickly warmed up to them and would visit whenever she could to "discuss" matters with Katherine and play with the kids. Though she would never admit it of course, she cared for the children as if they were her own.<p>

"Katherine, how is Nadja doing nowadays? She barely spoke at dinner." Glynda said. Katherine chuckled, remembering that her youngest had remained silent as the grave, even when desserts came out.

"She's doing great. My little super-brain of a daughter is nailing everything the schools can throw at her. At this rate she could enter Beacon a year early."

"...Katherine." Glynda looked back at her with a knowing frown.

"What?"

"You know I did not mean her grades."

"You didn't?" Katherine tried to lie through her teeth, but Glynda could always see through those. It was hard not to see through a woman who had once denied all interest in Alexander even as she stared at him dreamily in class.

"I know she's excelling academically," Glynda shrugged faintly "and I am sincerely happy to hear that she set her sight on becoming a Hunter. But please, tell me why she was giving Axel a death-glare the entire meal? Most Grimm would be terrified of such a gaze."

"I suppose she gets that look from me." Katherine joked. But her humor fell on deaf ears. "Well for the most part she's doing well." Katherine picked up a pile of moist dishes, carrying them over to Glynda's station. "She and the twins are getting along swimmingly, and she's always very kind and courteous to others." Katherine set the dishes down, and turned a glare to Glynda's observing eyes. "Though she's starting to develop a smug streak." Glynda couldn't help but feel like there was an unspoken accusation in there somewhere.

"So, how is she getting along with her older brother?"

"...Not well." Katherine responded with a sorrowful note in her tone.  
>Glynda had only heard that voice once before, at Morrigan's funeral. All that Katherine felt about her youngest kids relationship with each other was expressed in those two words alone.<br>If there was one thing that hurt the great Katherine Krieger, it was familial divide. It had driven her away from her clan, and it had soured her relationship with her sister Maxine. Glynda didn't need to ask to see the pain in Katherine's eyes or know how she felt about her kids, so she wordlessly took up the dishes while Katherine returned to her own workstation.

For the rest of their washing session, the two did not speak to each other out of some unspoken vow. For all her animated demeanor, Katherine could be the most dower person Glynda knew. Whether it was when discussing her Clan or the loss of a comrade near and dear to them all, the "Grimm Reaper" could be the most human of them all. Even if she was a literal half-blood demon, but that was another matter entirely.

The dishes were swiftly wiped of food, washed, dried, and returned to their shelves. With the usual combination of Katherine's speed and Glynda's fastidiousness, the chore was quickly finished, and the two stood in a clean, sparkling kitchen. Katherine had whipped up some herbal tea for them when it was all done, and the two sat across from each other at the kitchen island table.  
>For a time they remained in peaceful silence, sipping tea and hearing the faint sounds of night-time crickets outside. But the peace could only last so long, and Glynda decided it was time to get down to business. Grimm business.<p>

"So, about why I came here Katherine-"

"You wanted to test the foundations of the manor again?"

"No, I think they spoke for themselves today when you tried that spinning suplex."

"Oh, then it was to hear my children's shining adoration of you?" She interrupted.

"...The real reason is not that, and stop spreading that rumor." She snarled. "Axel continues to hang that over me."

"Oh come on you know you love it. Pulling off some magic and seeing the four of them gaze up at you, wide-eyed and-"

"My. Real. Reason. Damon." Glynda commanded, sitting on the edge of her seat. "I have a mission."

Katherine leaned back in her chair, trying and barely succeeding to hide her giggles. Glynda chose to ignore her friends child-like mannerism...For now. Right now there was business to discuss. Setting down her tea, Glynda pulled out a Hunter-standard issue scroll from her pocket. The device extended into its normal size, blinking to life at Glynda's touch. The device let out a series of beeps and boops as her fingers zipped through its functions and files. She arrived at her needed document, clicked it, and the scroll expanded to the length of her forearm.

"Here." She set the scroll down on the table as it lit up with the image of a map; a small but extravagantly constructed town located exactly three-hundred and fifty three miles away from Beacon's capital. Shining and magnificent, Katherine knew this city well.

"Lantern's Gale." Katherine nodded. "I thought the town's defenses were up and running from the last Grimm attack, or did they shirk on the defense budget again?" One of her briefest missions ever was fighting off a mere four-hundred of the beasties, leaving the townsfolk ran about like headless chickens while the law enforcement and city leaders had huddled in their offices hoping the danger would pass if they ignored it. It hadn't, but Katherine had crushed the threat before it even arrived.

In response to Katherine's question, Glynda shook her head. "Actually, they haven't cut corners in the slightest. That last wave of Grimm convinced the mayor to finally put up security systems, and quite effective ones at that. They've since added Alex's new unmanned turrets, several civilian bunkers, and even begun training their own militia. But what they haven't added are.."

"Spines?" Katherine guessed, shrugging when Glynda narrowed her eyes.

"That's putting it bluntly. Unfortunately, no they have not. Last week their scouts found signs of Grimm in the area. Roughly two thousand in number. Types include Ursas, Beowulves, Borbatusks, Creeps, King Taijitus, and apparently more than a few Deathstalkers if the message we received from the mayor is to be believed."

"Sheesh," Katherine muttered. "every kid in the neighborhood is turning up to this party aren't they."

Glynda tapped the display, and the map lit up several small red lights scattered a considerable distance away from the town, concentrated behind several mountains to the north and within walking distance of the only usable path through. When they would attack, the Grimm would be forced into a bottleneck. With some respectable firepower those beasties would be reduced to black stains. It was an easy thing to repel considering Alex's designs.

"Why come to us for help? That number of Grimm hardly requires a Hunter of your caliber." Katherine said. It wasn't praise, it was a cold hard fact. Glynda was more than capable of single-handedly slaughtering Grimm three times the size of the piddly force approaching the town. As if she could read minds, Glynda's head drooped in exasperation.

"Correction, Hunters of _our _caliber."

Katherine's eyebrow shot up her forehead.

"To clarify, " Glynda said. "the mayor is asking for 'top-caliber' Hunters to provide aid. He specifically asked for the Grimm Reaper and the Wicked Witch.. Even with their defenses, the people are scared of any attack coming out of the blue and wiping them off the map."

"So they're asking us to provide what, moral support? I'm not a cheerleader..." Katherine's eyes darted side to side at the memories of her sophmore year. "Anymore."

"No. They want us to stop the Grimm horde before it ever arrives." Glynda sighed. Katherine's eyebrow risked tearing itself off her forehead and flying into the atmosphere.

"So let me get this straight. They want us to show up when we aren't even needed to fight a Grimm horde that can easily be blasted apart by their defenses and their own soldiers, because they're scared of fighting for and relying on their own strength." Katherine groaned. "I never thought we'd be babysitting an entire town."

"So you'll be accepting this job." Glynda stated, to which Katherine nodded.

"It'll be a bit dull, but a paycheck is a paycheck." she sighed. "Yeah I'll help them of course, but this can be a ridiculous job sometimes, you know that? What other career-path would have a job like this?"

"We do indeed have interesting careers." Glynda agreed. Katherine took a mighty swig of her tea, finishing it with a happy sigh as she looked back at her friend. Her friend who remained silent, yet looked like she had something to say.

Katherine's eyes scanned her old friend, and she could definitely feel that something was off about this job, this entire visit Glynda was making to her home. Offering a pitifully easy assignment when there were far greater threats to Remnant, such as the White Fang or the hordes in the Dark Continent.  
>They would both gladly fight to protect humanity, but this mission was ridiculous. A hilariously small Grimm horde - for them at least - attacking a town already guarded by Krieger weaponry and a reportedly well-trained militia. The pay would be good considering the luxurious nature of Lantern's Gale, but this was something either one of them could handle with little difficulty.<p>

"Glynda, there's something you're not telling me." Katherine leaned in, examining her friend with eyes that completely shattered the image of a goofy and loud-mouthed person. Her sapphire-blue eyes burned like the flames of hell.  
>Glynda often forgot that underneath the jokes, the childish demeanor, and thick-headedness of her once loathed rival, there resided one of the most feared fighters on Remnant, the Grimm Reaper.<p>

Or as she was known to her clan, "Carnage Katherine."

If it had been anyone else, Katherine's glare would have knocked them out cold or even create the spontaneous need for physical relief. But the two of them, the Grimm Reaper and the Wicked Witch stood on equal footing. For Glynda this was her friend demanding answers. Answers that she had quite frankly dangled in front of her friend. Possibly it was an old reflex from school holding sway over her, but she had indulged herself long enough. It was high time to tell Katherine what the Wicked Witch was cooking up this time.

"It's our job, as Hunters is to fight the Grimm." Glynda set down her tea. "But I as a teacher have another duty, to ensure that the next generation can continue to defend the rest of humanity. Every so often I have to recruit potential talent. Sometimes this means looking in places you wouldn't expect to find individuals with sufficient skills, or helping those I find to discover their own power. That last one is the other reason why I'm here, to help someone down the path they so obviously want. "

"Please, cut to the point Glynda." Katherine sighed.

"Very well Katherine." Glynda felt herself unintentionally bracing for what would no doubt shake the manor itself.

"I'm here to request that you bring Axel with us."


	4. Roadtrips & Relaxation

Authors Note: I've decided to release this chapter ahead of schedule, as something of a tribute to Monty Oum and my own attempt to meet the request that we all "create something" for Monty. I didn't personally know him, but his work was an inspiration to me, as I know it was to many other. I wish I had met him so I could geek out at seeing the miracle that one man could do so much. If it wasn't for him, I would never have created any of the original characters in this story. We've lost a great man, but we should remember how he worked so hard to bring his ideas into reality, and his joy at creating those ideas. Keep creating people.

RIP MONTY OUM  
>We love you<p>

* * *

><p>Roadtrips &amp; Relaxation<p>

Ever since he was four, Axel had always thought that airships were the most luxurious means of travel. They were quite spiffy and shiny when viewed from absolutely any angle, could be outfitted for tasks ranging from combat to search-and-rescue to stealth op's, and sported some of the most advanced and sophisticated technology in the whole of Remnant. Also, they could fly at mach speeds.  
>Because of their many uses, the vehicles were quite popular. His dad conducted business trips on his own private airship, the military used them frequently for stealth, rescues, full on dogfights with Grimm, and there were even some variants designed solely for racing. For Axel, airships were the way of the future, where gasoline and oil would be antiques of the past to be replaced by glorious, glowing flying machines.<p>

So why the hell didn't this one have air-conditioning!?

With companies sporting large enough budgets to purchase entire islands, one would think they could outfit their top of the range transportation with some basic necessities, like cooling for when airships inevitably crowded with panicked civilians. Naturally when people were shoved into one space together, they tended to make the air a lot warmer with all their pesky exhalations and shared body heat. This resulted in what should have been an exciting trip on a flying wonder into a pained squeeze in a cramped chair between a squealing baby in its mothers arms, and a particularly burly soldier who kept fiddling with his rifle.  
>The former annoyed Axel to no end, and the latter was apparently kind of escort, though Axel wasn't sure why such a service was needed for a civilian transport. But what he did know that was between them and the countless other sweaty and panicking people, his sanity was being shaken down to its roots.<p>

Axel wasn't even sure why these people were panicked, just that their constant fretting and blubbering had turned his first airship ride into a whirlwind of painful elbow jabs, crowded rooms, and the deafening squeals of children echoing through the ship. Even with three spacious decks there was not one spot where he could sit down and read his books.

Thankfully, airships did have observational areas on the outside. Located on the front of the ship, this space wasn't used by most people because the average person did not possess the stomach for seeing the staggering heights the airships could reach. Even the small squad of troops on board couldn't withstand the environment for more than a few minutes before they had to quickly attend to other matters. But for a boy who had fallen to his near-death, the view was quite pleasant by comparison...

"Well, that was dark." he muttered.

Axel's grim musing left him a little disturbed. Since when did he start viewing the accident as a benefit like this? He couldn't remember when he had started thinking along such lines, and it worried him to picture what kind of person he'd grow up to be. He didn't want to end up a brooding sour man with a constant five o'clock shadow and an inner monologue. If he started wearing all black leather...

But one glance down at the lush fields, the shimmering rivers, and distant snow-capped mountains laid his fears to rest. All thoughts of black leather, no matter how comfortable it might be, disappeared from his mind. From this high, the landscape blended together, going from dark green trees to bright lime-green fields. The features flowed like the brush marks of a painting, as if whatever divine power existed had hand-crafted it all to produce a work of art unlike any seen in creation. Anyone gazing upon the marvel would surely find something worthwhile, something inspiring.

It wasn't a cure for his eyes, but it was a damn good sight. He was scared at first to walk out into the roaring wind and rather frigid air. All it took was a few steps forward. But if he hadn't moved forward he would still be trapped inside like the others on board the ship, too frightened to go anywhere, to see what was before him. Once he gained his airship legs the winds were beneath concern, and he could take solace in what he had accomplished; enjoying the scenery. That and getting away from screaming children, which was an accomplishment in and of itself.

With the wind blowing in his face and the cool scent of a pine forest drifting into the atmosphere, the thought occurred to Axel that he was a very long way from home. Farther than any of his siblings in fact. Nadja was chomping at the bit when she heard she'd be stuck at home while Axel went on a "high class vacation."

According to Aunt Glynda, this town would be over three hundred miles from Beacon. Not that far considering Remnant's massive size, but with the constant threat of Grimm such a journey was unthinkable to most of the populace. The majority of people were comfortable to stay within the four kingdoms boundaries, so only the very brave, foolish, or wealthy would even start to think about building homes and towns in the more dangerous regions. Which raised the question of why he, a mere boy, was making the journey to one such town.

He had posed that exact idea to Glynda and his mom, but the Wicked Witch redirected his question, saying that he would get a road trip and a chance to tinker with Krieger technology. He didn't see the necessity in it. For all he knew, his mom and godmom were just going to consult with the town mayor on defensive strategies. Training the militia and whatnot. It wasn't that he was ungrateful for the chance to get out, but it was an odd matter over which to make such a journey.

But at the same time he was happy to get outside the house and see the world, from atop an airship no less. This was another benefit of a Hunter lifestyle, you could travel anywhere and everywhere in Remnant. Other professions like soldiers, traders, and archeologist did get to go out and explore or fight monsters, but none of them had the incredible freedom, that sense of having the whole world at your feet that Axel always pictured with being a Hunter. He felt the joy of having the endless possibilities, washing over him in the icy wind and the rays of the sun.

Maybe that's what he was looking for in being a Hunter, the freedom. Killing Grimm was an important part of it, but he had been thinking long and hard on that and found killing just wasn't as appealing as Anton and Katja had described. Whenever he saw those two in the training room, it was like they derided a sick euphoria in the act of ripping their opponents to shreds. He almost felt sorry for the Grimm they fought, and those were just holograms.

Not that it wasn't fun to fight, but Axel didn't draw the same kind of joy his older siblings did. For him it was simply fun to use one's skills in combat and think of solutions to the problem, not tear enemies limb from limb with a grin. So maybe the freedom of a Hunter is what he truly wanted, to travel the world fighting monsters, discovering lost civilizations, and returning home to tell stories of his adventures, like his mom.

Axel smiled to himself as he looked out over the land. It was late afternoon by now, when the sun was beginning to dip to the east and turn its rays a deep gold. He averted his gaze from the burning orb, and caught sight of a small lake in the distance. Surrounded by large trees, it would've been difficult to spot from the ground. But from here he could see anything and everything. Its smooth, motionless surface absorbed the sunlight, glowing as if blessed by a higher power. The sight of this, and indeed of all the countryside filled Axel with sheer awe. If he became a Hunter, this would all be his to explore. To see everything it had to offer...Every single inch of it….

To wander….Endlessly. Hills, caves, oceans, mountains. He would wander across the entire world. In any direction he wanted to, for countless miles. Pausing his travels only when Grimm came his way. Then he would kill them, and continue an eternal journey. No direction. No goal. Only a horizon to journey to. The vast wilderness would be his home. The farthest, darkest corners of the world his basement and attic. All of it would be his to explore. For his entire life. Away from home and family and friends. Only walking and killing. Forever..

Axel felt a shiver run through his spine. In one instant the landscape, with all its expansiveness, appeared a howling wasteland. Filled with great beauty yes, but beauty that seemed only to alleviate the life of one who wandered the earth. They were decorations, simply random shapes formed as the planet was born and shaped for billions of years.

If this is what endless freedom would bring him, he'd rather not bother. Without something to journey to and innumerable possibilities, how was he supposed to find something worth traveling for? Without that thing, that greater something he had yet to find, then he might as well abandon all worldly possessions and become a deranged hermit.

"Damn." He muttered, turning away from the landscape, leaning against the railing as he looked back at the airships interior. He couldn't endure the spectacle of nature for much longer.  
>The ship was still packed with civilians all panicked and sweaty. The sight of them filled with worry was unpleasant, but at least it was an unpleasantry he could cope with. He knew misery, in himself and others. Out there was was the spectacle of nature, but it only decorated the vast reach of the wilderness. The life of a Hunter was to journey in combat against the Grimm, to slay humanities enemies without hesitation or regret regardless of where the evil lay in the world. If he didn't want to butcher the monsters who sought to kill his race, or journey the planet free of the restraints and limitations normal people were burdened with, than what else was there? There had to be something more for him to reach for…<p>

His mind raced, looking for an answer. Any answer to help him find something to strive for, but the space in his head that contained the answer was a big useless pile of nothing! But just as he was about to start tearing out his hair in frustration, a piercing sound echoed throughout the ship.

"Alex Korite please report to the cockpit, report to the cockpit Alex Korite. Repeat, any person named Alex Korite is to immediately report to the bridge. Post-haste." The high-pitched shrill of the captain's first mate, an energetic and squeaky woman Axel had met when he boarded with Glynda and his mom. She had spoken so fast that it was as if she started and ended a conversation by herself, and he didn't even have time to ask if she needed water, a break, or a single freaking breath until Glynda ushered to the snack bar. Presumably she was still up there with the human-shaped helium deposit.

"Repeat again, a person named Alex Korite is to report to the bridge on the spot. Now. At present moment. Immediately. Muy rapido. Post-haste. Half-past now. Post-haste means immediately."  
>Her speech pattern was somehow more irritating than Axel's curious codename. Aunt Glynda said it was necessary to prevent anyone wanting to collect a ransom on a billionaire's kid. His mom didn't need a codename given that no man on Remnant would try to threaten the Grimm Reaper. So he was stuck with a dumb codename only barely different from his actual name. He even had the same initials.<p>

"To reach the cockpit, the bridge, the helm, please use the stairs located at the center of every deck. Repeat, use the stairs to reach the bridge. Post-haste." He also had that high-pitched yammering to put up with. So that was fun.

"Alright alright I'm coming up!" He groaned. He would do anything to end the pestering. He just had to make his way to the elevator.  
>If memory served, that was located toward the of the ship, right below the bridge. If this was any other ship, getting there would be a straight shot. But since this place was jam-packed with passengers, it would probably be a lot more difficult.<p>

From the observation area he would have to go back through the labyrinth of sweaty humans. Trying to weave through them all just to get out here was nigh-impossible, and had left him with a fair share of narrow misses from people's elbows. Going back through the crowd might leave him with far worse, like bite-marks or banged shins. There had to be another way up to the bridge from here. If he couldn't go inside…

Actually, this wouldn't be too difficult for him. The airship's hull was smooth, but he had been able to climb marble walls in the rain. The only danger was the wind, and the airship now seemed to be slowing down somewhat. It was probably nearing the city in fact.  
>As it was now he was at the very front of the ship with the bridge in the far back, up two decks most likely. If he was quick enough and watched his surroundings as well as the weather, he could pull this off and reach the bridge before Glynda made her first rant. His first step was to get off this observation area. He looked up, seeing more than a few easy places to grip on the ship's hull. Easy.<p>

With a few looks around to ensure nobody kept track, Axel crouched low, bending like a cat as he readied himself. Just like Glynda said, 'take time to prepare, ready yourself before you jump into the fray.'

He took a single breath, and jumped with dust-scattering force. He shot straight up past the numerous windows of the main deck, so quick that nobody inside noticed the gray blur soaring upwards. He kept going up and up, and when he reached the apex of his jump Axel's arms shot out and grabbed the ridge of the upper deck's top window.

Careful to pull his legs up for better support, Axel hopped from window edge to scaffolding to an emergency hatch as he climbed the airships lantern jaw-esque bow. The previously roaring wind was merely a stiff breeze on his back that only made him feel more alive as he traversed the vessel. At the most he'd climbed houses in the slums, but climbing a moving airship was something far more amazing. He flung himself up and over the edge, landing in a roll with not so much as a bead of sweat on his brow, and set off in a quick dash along the ships hull toward the stern, his legs moving with a speed gained from countless hours of training. That and running from his mother's battering ram hugs.

He kept low to the ground, tilting his body forward with his arms held out behind him. A technique he found that was more useful for maintaining a low profile under cover of night than any practical use in combat.

He raced along the hull with a steady beat of his boots tapping the thick metal that coated the ship. Up here the only things that could see him were birds and those stationed in the cockpit. But as Axel zipped along the last stretch of the hull, he glanced up to see that the present crew were engaged in heated conversation with the Wicked Witch and the Grimm Reaper. Katherine looked absolutely livid at the captain for some reason, while Glynda seemed merely annoyed. That or pleased, or miserable, or in love. It was always hard to tell what exactly she felt. But for the moment, none of them noticed his approach, which was just perfect for him.

Axel made a gentle curve along the starboard side of the ship with a new burst of speed, running near the high rectangular structure of the bridge. Just as it loomed directly overhead, Axel slammed on his breaks to screech to a stiff halt, kicking up a whiff of dust as he did. Then, his boots whirred as they fired up with energy. He crouched low, and jumped just as the soles of his shoes lit with small blue flames. The technology of his prototype rocket boots were strong enough to send him flying at low mach speeds, but he was just fine with using them to increase his parkour abilities. He flew dangerously close to the smooth metal which raced past him as the rockets flared, propelling him next to the bridge's window, and switching off as he stepped down to a adjacent platform.  
>With nary a sound, he rested atop the outlying metal, leaning against the window as the argument continued inside, and an interesting sight it was.<p>

It seemed as though his mom was chewing out the captain for something. Axel couldn't hear what exactly, but the captain looked no less pleased with the predicament he found himself in; being ranted at by a Hunter known for her terrible strength while his the ship was filled to the brim with panicked passengers and soldiers with itchy trigger fingers. But whatever Katherine was upset over, it didn't seem to involve the passengers.  
>She had that look in her eyes that Axel had seen whenever any of his siblings would hurt themselves, and she had it every time she finished a meditation session with him. Eyes of fierce, terrifying love for someone she wanted to keep safe. Today it was more ferocious than he had ever seen before, and it would probably only get worse the longer he wasn't on the bridge. He just hoped he'd survive the inevitable lecture<p>

With a cautious light in his eyes, Axel tapped the thick glass, creating a sturdy note as a herald of his arrival. Before his hand had even moved for the second tap, the eyes of the Hunters, the captain, and that shrill harpy disguised as a mortal woman all whipped around to see a smiling blue-haired teen waving at them while perched just outside the bridge. The captain and the lady were just confused, maybe even a bit dumbfounded. Glynda looked about ready to fling Axel across the continent, and his mom was...Terrifying.

Thankfully the windows didn't open.

Or so he thought. He saw the harpy flick a single switch on the control board, and the window that he had been leaning on quickly slid open, thus allowing his rapid ingress inside, and an intimate salutation with the bridge floor punctuated by a heavy _thud_. He forgot those had been installed recently. By his dad's own company no less.

"Alex Korite is now officially on the bridge." The squeaky voice declared to the captain. Excellent, now he was in pain and annoyed at the same time.

"I can see that Lieutenant." the captain responded, and Axel could imagine the gruff man facepalming at having a seemingly clumsy kid allowed on his bridge alongside two Hunters.  
>Both of whom came to Axel's side and pried him from further diplomacy with the floor, much to his relief and Glynda's exasperation.<p>

"Alex, did you really have to climb the outside of the ship to get here?" Glynda sighed.

"I mean..I didn't have to, but it was a lot faster than the elevator. More fun too actually." The Wicked Witch raised her eyebrow at his attempt at comedy, before deciding to accept it as another oddity of the the Grimm Reaper was considerably less amused. In fact she looked furious with her son. Looking at her, Axel suddenly felt very very small...

"Alex," she ground out, "that was very reckless of you. Did you not once think what could've happened if you'd slipped, or gotten lost? Or had an episode? Do you have any idea how terrified I was when you didn't show up when the Lieutenant called for you? Why do you have to make this-"

"Excuse me Katherine."  
>All three turned to look to the deep voice that spoke. Now that he had regained his senses Axel saw the captain, a rabbit faunus. Like a captain, he carried himself with impeccable dignity and confidence of a person befitting his station. Unlike a captain, his clothing was ragged, torn, and decorated with several patches. He bore a leather jacket over his official shirt, the only item of clothing that designated his position aside from the pin on his jacket breast.<p>

His pants were a dark brown, faded in places from countless hours spent sailing under the hot sun. He wore some kind of combination of athletic and formal shoes that were the only well-kept piece on him. But despite that - and his adorable bunny ears - he commanded the whole room with a presence that called the attention of even the Grimm Reaper herself. After all, it was his damn ship they were using.

"Before you no doubt scold him into oblivion, I would like to know the lad's train of thought for climbing all over my ship." he chuckled. Despite being a well-built and large guy, he seemed only curious with this boy that was of such importance to two world-famous Hunters. He looked at Axel with an inquisitive glint in his eyes. Axel steadied himself and looked back with honesty.

"I wanted to test my abilities...Captain." he replied.

"How so?" the captain questioned, giving Axel a raised eyebrow, no doubt imitating Glynda. A not entirely unsuccessful attempt that had Axel suppressing the urge to giggle like a schoolboy. That was just the last thing he needed, giggling between two legendary slayers and a ship's captain.

"It's just that…." Axel paused, rubbing the back of his head as his mirth died down. "I want to become a Hunter when I grow up. If I want to do that I need to keep in shape, and use any opportunity I can to flex my skills. Climb a wall, spar with a friend, shooting ranges, etcetera." To this reply the captain nodded, but looked ever more curious with this blue-haired Tarzan.

"We're not in a combat zone kid." He chuckled. "There's no need to worry here."

"It could be a combat zone at any moment." Axel said, earning a surprised look from the rabbit faunus. "Grimm are hardly known for playing by the rules after all. They're instinctual and will take any opportunity to hunt us all, which means that any moment is one where a Grimm could attack, even if it's an airship." Glynda and Katherine looked at him as he continued, the former looking intrigued while the latter tried to suppress a great swelling of some unknown feeling within herself. Whatever it was, it only spurred Axel to continue.

"If I'm going to be a Hunter, I think I need to be ready for any danger, regardless of supposed safety I took the opportunity to make sure I was in shape in case of such a problem. " Axel crossed his arms, faintly proud of himself.  
>But then he realized he had effectively lectured a man many years his senior, and possibly insulted his prized vessel.<p>

"Not that your ship isn't safe, it just doesn't hurt to be prepared." Then his self-confidence took another painful dip as his true rationing came to the surface

"That and it was kind of fun to run on an airship."

For a straight minute, there was only silence. The harpy creature seemed more occupied with averting her gaze away from the current issue in the bridge, looking out on the horizon as she adjusted the controls. Axel remained where he was, rooted to the ground between two of the strongest women on the planet, both of whom were well within their rights to yank on his ear at a moments notice. But the captain grinned, and let out a low, grumbling chuckle deep within his throat. The gruff faunus didn't look annoyed at all with the words of a kid who'd just run around his ship like an obstacle course.

"Goodwitch, you've got quite the interesting kid on your hands." He laughed. "This one's got a good head on his shoulders. Can't say I disagree with his logic," He eyed Axel "even if you did just hop all over the hull. If this kid's aiming to be a Hunter I'd say he's got a good chance." Glynda, in a true rarity of expression, formed the tiniest of smirks on her lips. To further Axel's confusion, It was a smirk directed solely at his mom.

"The captain seems to agree with-"

"Glynda, stop talking. _Now_." Glynda's words were utterly stomped into nothing when the Grimm Reaper's eyes flashed with that same protective rage Axel had seen minutes before. Even with only basic training, he could sense something stirring in his mother's aura. There was some restlessness in her that threatened to snap at the slightest provocation. This anger wasn't like her at all, and for all he knew, he was the one who caused it by being late.

"Um, mom." He looked back to her. "I'm sorry I was so reckless in getting here. I'll take the elevator next time. I promise." Axel felt his head dipping in shame, but a hand rested on his shoulder. Glynda's. Axel's gaze shot back up to see his godmother positively struggling to give him a reassuring smile.

"Just think twice before you pull a reckless move like this again, alright?" Axel was becoming more confused and uneasy by the second. A giant rabbit faunus who praised him for running all over his ship, and his mom and Glynda had switched personalities.  
>Where was the Wicked Witch who would lecture him endlessly on his mistakes, or the Grimm Reaper who would hug like a grizzly bear? Now it was Glynda who being soft on him while his mom had looked away, gazing out to the horizon with her arms crossed.<p>

"I….Won't….Glynda…." He muttered as the situation confused him more and more. Fortunately the captain finally regained order on his damn ship, coughing to bring at least Glynda and Axel back to attention.  
>"Now that we have our precious cargo on the bridge," He turned to the harpy. "Lieutenant, announce to the ship we are to dock soon. We need to offload these people as soon as possible."<p>

"Wait, we're already here?" Axel asked.

"The ride has only been two hours long Alex." Glynda looked annoyed. "How long did you estimate the journey was?" Axel felt another shiver go through his spine as the shrieks of children and that terrible smell of sweat resurged in his mind.

"Longer than time itself." He whispered in horror.  
>Meanwhile, the mic was clicked into activity by the shrill-voiced woman whom Axel only knew as the "Lieutenant."<p>

"Attention all passengers. Airship is nearing destination, return to your seats post haste in the event of turbulence or some meteorological phenomenon that could result in the ship's instability. To keep you informed, these phenomena include but are not limited to-"

"Please Lieutenant," Glynda moaned. "Make your announcement more concise." The Lieutenant seemed to huff in annoyance, but it was almost too quick to be mistaken for a human exhalation.

"All passengers, please return to your seats. We are about to land in the town of Lantern's Gale. Make sure all you have all your belongings on hand before disembarking. We thank you for choosing to fly Air Peppy." With that she clicked the mic off, wordlessly shifting to a nearby control panel. Axel looked at at the captain, raising an eyebrow.

"Excuse me, but 'Air Peppy?' I've never heard of this airline." To this the captain pointed at his inexplicably shiny badge with a proud grin that showed his massive teeth.

"Welcome aboard the Arwing, captained by yours truly, Peppy Caelum!" He declared, almost knocking the ship off course with a sweep of his arm, though the Lieutenant thankfully caught the controls before any turbulence occurred. Axel could almost hear a groan from Glynda, deep within her throat like she was trying to suppress an intense loathing.  
>As if to hide it she looked to Axel, switching to her teacher mode.<p>

"We're using a freelance ship to get to the city. Peppy is an associate of mine, and he was the only one willing to fly us out here on such short notice. He has a knack for pulling off jobs the commercial airlines won't take." Axel nodded

"That explains why we left at six in the morning at least. But wait, why did we take this ship when there's already an official route to Lantern's Gale from the capital?" To this the captain laughed like old Saint Nicholas himself, though considerably more boastful in its tone.

"Because the official line's closed right now kid. Nobody wants to go anywhere near Lantern's Gale right now! That's why these two called me up, along with all those lovely people you've no doubt met." This just got more and more confusing for Axel.

"Why doesn't anyone want to-"

"You won't need to worry about it at all Alex." His mother suddenly spoke. "Come look at the view, we're finally here." Glynda looked at Katherine with her usual annoyance, though Axel could see an extra edge to it. They didn't look like they'd kill each other, but Axel sensed they were on the edge of a verbal spar the likes of which he had never seen before.

So...He was in a faulty ship called Arwing with a high-pitched military faunus apparently lacking the need for oxygen, a godmother who looked ready to lay some pain down on someone, his juggernaut mother who was more cross than when she missed her morning coffee, and a rabbit faunus ship captain named Peppy.

...

Either his episodes had resulted in full-on hallucinations, or the world around him was far crazier than he ever imagined, and he imagined quite a lot. Perhaps a view of the countryside would calm his rapidly deteriorating sanity.

Once he managed to steady himself, Axel scrambled to find a good viewpoint pointedly several feet away from his terrifying parental figures. He found himself settling next to the Lieutenant, who was at least quiet and probably sane as she worked the his eyes found themselves being pulled to see their destination, and he found that the view was more amazing than he'd ever imagined. Beneath the shining golden rays of the sun was their destination.

"Daaaaaamn." He muttered.

"Indeed." Glynda responded.

The first aspect of the view that stood out to him was how shiny the town was. Even with his shades on it was almost blinding. It was surrounded by a gleaming snowy white wall that reflected the golden afternoon rays, shining with an intensity that rivaled the sun itself. Thick, smooth, strong walls, decorated with dark veins. Axel realized that it was in fact a marble coating that covered the entire structure. It wouldn't make sense for it to be entirely marble. Firstly because it would be useless for keeping out Grimm. But most importantly, marble alone would crumble into dust under the titanic weight of the turrets situated on the top of the wall.

Massive black and gray machines sporting four guns bigger than anything he'd ever seen, even his dad's private basement cannon. The main body was a perfect orb, smooth and just as reflective of the sunlight as the walls. Axel could see at least eight smaller guns situated between their bigger brothers as well, and a small blinking green light that indicated the turret's status between a few inactive spotlights.  
>A few of them followed the airship's course as it came closer, no doubt contributing to the captain's anxiety. Truly a masterpiece of craftsmanship, a literal shining example of firepower. Any single turret would scare off most would-be raiders, but Lantern's Gale apparently had enough money for marble coating on a giant wall, so a couple dozen of the things were no problem for them. He couldn't wait to be let on the wall and tamper with those magnificent tools of destruction later.<p>

The town itself was thankfully far less sparkly. The area closest to the wall was mainly large grassy fields adorned with large deciduous trees. There was a small lake, only used for scenic purposes by the looks of the smooth paths and benches situated around it.

Further inward, there were small houses. Though a small house for this town were quite lovely. Clean and well-kept, small garden or a porch next to a driveway. Each one was unique in it's own way with varying colors and layouts. The houses grew larger, rising in stories and quality the closer they came to the town center, which was a small city on its own. There were restaurants, stores, apartment buildings up the wazoo. Towering structures that rivaled the capital city in their magnificence. That, and they were just plain amazing. Sharp angles on some, smooth curves on others, each one was varied like the outer houses. Each one was a work of art in their own rights, but together they wordlessly spoke of a city embracing the heights of artistry and engineering. And the city was huge, unquestionably enormous. This wasn't a small village, it was a metropolis. The wall alone was at least one thousand and five hundred feet tall, as tall as a skyscraper, and some of the buildings absolutely dwarfed it.

There was an aspect that most cities missed, and one that contributed to the cities unnatural gleam was how clean it all was. No smog or smoke, no pollution to speak of. He couldn't even see a garbage dump in the city limits. It was a beautiful balance of nature and technology. According to what he read, Axel learned that Lantern's Gale was known for having one of the smallest carbon footprints on the planet. The town largely ran on solar energy, and a hydroelectric dam somewhere in the northern mountain range. The cars were electric, as was the public transportation system of streetcars. Their agriculture was largely conducted underground, which would explain why there were very few visible crops.

But what thrilled him, what filled him with absolute glee was that this whole place was his to explore. Not a single inch would hide from him. He'd always wanted to have an entire city in which to run around. Now he had his chance. Turrets, fast cars, and by the looks of it, plenty of areas in which to go roof-hooping. This was going to be a fun week.

The ship flew over the wall, passing slowly above the skyscrapers while the Lieutenant transmitted data to the town's defense systems. Axel could see the landing stations near the town's

"So how long will we be here again?" He asked as the ship came in low.

"A few days." Glynda responded. "You'll have time to see the sights here, don't worry."

"Just remember you two, we're not here on vacation." Katherine interjected, glaring at Axel with her arms still crossed. "Glynda and I will be on business while you'll be looking at the turrets, and only the turrets while we're here. You'll have an escort for the duration of our stay, and I don't want you running anywhere. Do you understand me kiddo?"

Axel felt that deep sinking feeling in his stomach as his mom's eyes bored into his very soul. It was like being stared down by a dragon. A dragon that didn't want to eat him, only hoard him away to its lair. If this was his mom being protective, he could only begin to grasp how her enemies felt when she was in full-on Grimm Reaper mode.

Fortunately, nothing escaped the eyes of Glynda Goodwitch, and she would most certainly notice her friend and colleague staring down her own child. She knew that Katherine would never dream about harming her children, nor would she allow harm to come to them. With all the strength of a Hunter and half-demon she would smash aside any opponent that would threaten her children, and be an impenetrable wall against danger for her little ones.

But that was exactly the problem. Sometimes protection wasn't the correct course if you wanted somebody to grow and mature. When it was from a menace they couldn't possibly survive encountering, of course one had to act and shield those to weak to defend themselves. But there was a point when the shield became a barrier for those under its protection, only serving to lock them within, away from the world's horrors and wonders.

Glynda had nothing but respect, and maybe even a miniscule amount of familial love for Katherine Krieger.

Only a tiny smidgen of it though.

But her friend needed to ease up on smothering her child if Axel was to get anywhere, if he wanted to become a Hunter.

For now she could only ensure Axel made it to their hotel room without leaving him further confused and terrified of the situation. At the moment he looked close to fainting, poor little guy. He looked out at the city with a sparkle in his eyes, like so many other potentials she'd recruited. All those eyes filled with wonder at seeing the world around them, the infinite possibilities they could achieve if only they were given a chance to show their abilities. Some of the kids she found proved unable to rise to the challenge before them, while others blossomed with potential into powerful warriors in their own rights. In a world that let so many children slip through the cracks, she'd be damned if she ever let a single one go without a chance.

* * *

><p>The night since their arrival had been uneventful. The walk from the airship was crowded but at least Axel had avoided the barrage of elbows. They had waved goodbye to Peppy as he left, though Glynda mentioned if their visit wasn't delayed they'd be seeing the captain and his ship for the ride home.<br>From the landing pad it was a comfortable cab ride to their hotel, which Axel noticed was rather close to the town hall. No doubt it was because the two Hunters he was with had serious business to attend to. It was probably something concerning heroism, great battles, political intrigue, the usual affair. Growing up around a living legend made one numb to the madness of Remnant, so Axel didn't pay much attention to the details.  
>But there were just some things that scared even a child of the Grimm Reaper. For the entire evening and morning at the hotel, his mom looked ready to kill Glynda in a moment's notice. Axel didn't understand the reason for that, nor did he possess the courage to find out. He was just happy to get out of the house.<p>

Though the tension in the air made for an awkward breakfast.

It was miraculous to see his mom and Glynda sharing a hotel room without demolishing it come morning tea at least. While he had been quietly sipping and chomping on muffins and eggs, the two Hunters had been having a heated conversation.  
>Not with their mouths though, for Axel had long since learned that entire debates could occur between women without a single word being exchanged. It was quite fascinating really, to see them talk solely through the language of stares and facial twitches. It could easily be mistaken for a unique form of sign language, if there was a single person brave enough to try learning it. Axel sincerely doubted that, considering either one of these two would and in fact could snap at the slightest provocation.<br>Somehow the two of them maintained a semblance of civility, if that was the word for it. To him it felt like someone had drenched the room in gasoline and given each of these two women a single match, and they were both waiting for the other to start the blaze.

One the volatile meal was done Axel quietly arranged his things together, including his weapons. His mother initially didn't approve of him carrying them around or wearing them, but one look from Glynda had silenced her protests. No doubt it was because Glynda strongly believed in the "prepared at all times" story Axel came up with on the spot. Axel was quick to slip his blades under his sleeves before mom had a chance to protest. He even packed the pistols his father gave him, the prototype Tod Gluhens, careful to conceal them in his jacket.

Thankfully his mother didn't have time to check him over, as she and Glynda needed to rush out for a "business meeting."

"When will you guys be back?" he had asked, earning a shrug from Glynda.

"I do not know. The person we're meeting has a tendency to ramble on, much like the Lieutenant you met on the ship." Glynda had slung on a pitch-black ankle-length coat in place of her normal cape, a coat that bared her purple crown symbol on the upper arms, while Katherine wore an identical coat with her own sapphire eye symbols. They only wore those coats on special occasions, so whatever they were up to was important. He didn't push it though. Some information was just classified, even to him, and he didn't really want to provoke his mothers foul mood anyway.

"Wait, so what am I going to do?" He had asked Glynda with a whisper. "I don't want to stay in here the whole week or I'll go mad. I get mom is annoyed, but I-" Glynda silenced him, pulling him in closer with a hush.

"Your mother's foul mood is not your fault Axel. She's just a bit anxious with this trip."

"But you can't tell me why because it's classified?"

"Essentially." she nodded. Axel had sighed. "You won't be here all week though. I've brought a tour guide with us. She'll be giving you a tour of the city."  
>Axel remembered that his jaw had dropped. Glynda was acting more and more out of character by the second. He didn't inquire any more after that, and they had left for whatever it is Hunters did in a mayor's office.<p>

So he now found himself alone in an entire hotel room. Well, there were worse places to be alone for certain. He was still a bit drowsy and needed his second cup of tea, so he brewed up some earl grey along with a delicious doughnut. Delicious caffeine that soothed his nerves and readied him for another day. Another crazy, chaotic, episode-laden day no doubt. At least breakfast was enjoyable. It was just peace and quiet in a hotel room all to himself. Only him, a cup of tea, the Lieutenant, and his-

Wait, the Lieutenant?

"Woah!" _thud._  
>Once again he found himself making an intimately friendly greeting with the hard floor when he saw the squeaky Lieutenant sitting right beside him. He vision went fuzzy in that brain-damaging way, and with a groan he realized he'd spilled the damn tea. His head was sore, and not in the typical concussion sort of way. His eyes were stinging with the prickles of hot needles.<p>

"When, when did you get in here?" He grumbled out from his spot the floor.

"I entered your registered room exactly six minutes and seventeen seconds ago." She chirped, apparently unaware or uncaring of the boy who had slammed his entire body into the floor. From his spot, Axel saw she was merrily typing away on her pad, yet somehow kept her yellow, slit eyes trained on him the whole time.

"Well, okay. That's good to hear I suppose." Axel rose from his impromptu declining, and stumbled back into the chair next to her. His vision was still blurry, and that tinge of his usual pain continued in his skull.

"Are you well Axel Krieger?" The Lieutenant spoke.

"It's nothing, just a tinge of my-"

"Ah yes, your 'episodes,' a condition brought about by some unknown stimulant in your cybernetic implants that cause pain throughout your body." She finished that all in just under four seconds, somehow. She had summed up his condition, the whole years he'd spent going through meditation and pain, all in the span of under four seconds. How remarkable. If Axel was displeased it certainly showed on his face, because the Lieutenant ducked her head slightly, and her lips pursed.

"My apologies. I did not intend to offend you."  
>Axel shrugged as he rubbed his eyes.<p>

"It's okay. I just get a little cranky when this happens." He knew she didn't mean anything by it. He snatched a large glass of water from the counter, chugging it for all his worth like a man stranded in the hot, dusty desert.

"Interesting. Does intake of water help alleviate your symptoms? Perhaps the oxygen-"

"What, this?" Axel pointed at his glass. "No I'm just thirsty." At this the Lieutenant looked confused, and at the same time intrigued. Getting just a bit too close for comfort as her yellow eyes looked deep into his own aqua green ones. She examined him with cat-like gaze, at once both curious and suspicious of them.

"These eyes, is there any cure for the episodes?" Axel shrugged.

"Not one that I've found. Only thing that works even slightly is intense meditation, or…" Axel's gaze drifted to the side. He still didn't understand how thinking about...Her helped him deal with his attacks, it just didn't make any sense at all.

"I apologize, but do you have a speech impediment? You seemed to have paused."

"It's nothing." He sighed, rising from his seat with a yawn. "I don't know of a cure honestly. My dad ran tests, my mom and Glynda tried magic, the works." Axel turned to the sink, washing out his mug while being only half focused on the task. He couldn't really muster up the energy for it anyhow.  
>"So no offense to you Lieutenant, but if you're only here to talk about my eyes this is going to be a dull week for us both. My eyes are high-tech cybernetics built by my dad after I lost my first in the fall, which you've no doubt heard of." Axel slid the mug back into place on the counter, still feeling a faint tinge in his eyes.<p>

"I experience these attacks at random intervals, and that's it. That's basically the whole story. There are episodes, I go through them, and I wait for the next one. The end." He turned around to look back at the Lieutenant who was leaning on the table with profound interest in her eyes. He noticed she wore a very cuboidal sort of military hat over her tightly packed hair.

"Wait...I thought you were supposed to be back on the airship. Aren't you Captain Peppy's lieutenant?" To this the Lieutenant let out a small chuckle, which somehow ran its course faster than Axel's senses could register that she had even vocalized.

"Oh, I am not his lieutenant. No, to be more precise I am in fact Glynda Goodwitch's secretary."

"...Auntie Glynda has a secretary? Since when?"

"Since three years ago by my count." she responded with a shrug. "One tends to lose track of time when working under a legendary Hunter like Goodwitch." Axel had an obvious question for her now.

"So why don't people call you 'secretary?' Doesn't that make more sense?" Again the Lieutenant laughed faster than humanly possible, before returning to her usual dutiful demeanor.

"I'm only called Lieutenant because I once served in the military and reached the rank. I'm somewhat famous for becoming a lieutenant at an unprecedented nineteen years of age for my strategies in dealing with Grimm attacks. I received four purple hearts, three bronze stars, two silver stars, two gold stars, and the medal of honor in my service before I left."

Axel felt his brain pause. So many medals on one person didn't seem possible. Surely all that medal on one side of a uniform would make the wearer fall over, wouldn't it?

"That is...Quite impressive Lieutenant. Wait, hold on a minute. With a military record like that you should be a commander by now. What changed? Why become a secretary to Auntie Glynda?" To this, the Lieutenant's eyes flashed with a subtl light. It was as if some fire was kindled deep within her. It was somewhat marred by the Lieutenant standing up at the speed of light, still somehow typing merrily away on her pad.

"To put it simply, I found more purpose working under Goodwitch, a Hunter not marred by black-ink and politics, than in serving an organization such as the military." Axel only just noticed that the woman's voice slowed to an almost normal speed, a gesture that gave her words incredible weight. He could see that despite her outward bubbly persona, there was much more to this woman than he'd given her credit for.

"How has that been for you? Is it...Fulfilling?" The Lieutenant nodded in response.

"I have never once regretted my choice Axel Krieger." Then, just as quickly as it appeared, the fire in the Lieutenant's eyes disappeared to be replaced by her now typical fast-talking, and she looked at him with a wide and friendly smile.

"Well, now that we have exchanged pleasantries. My other, temporary duty is to serve as, how did Goodwitch put it? Ah yes, 'my eyes and ears on Axel's movements,' that was the exact phrasing in which she described it."

"Wait so...Did Glynda assign you to babysit me?"

"Yes. Specifically I am to escort you to any areas of the city available to us." Axel's head tilted as the realization dawned on him. Katherine leaving him alone in a hotel room while Glynda assigned a well-decorated former officer of the military solely to keep an eye on him, an innocent young boy without a single mischievous thought in his entire body.

"Well. Does that mean we can go out right now?" he asked, daring to hope of getting some damn sunlight for once in his life.

"Of course. In fact I organized a list of locations you'll find enjoyable."  
>Huh, maybe this weird and horribly confusing vacation would have a few upsides to it. With nary a word passed between them, Axel followed the Lieutenant out of the hotel. He had his backpack, his weapons, his new green shades, he was ready for a good old week on the town.<p>

"I'd like to see the military bases hanger first if we can? I've heard the engineers here have been working on some experimental aircraft that use liquid dust engines. After that we can check out the power plant, then the underground irrigation system, and then the city walls and turrets last."

"Why yes we can. In fact we can use a private hover car to get there."

"You mean a mark six strider-bug class hover car?" Axel almost squealed in delight. "Oh this is going to be amazing. I can't wait to get my hand on those turrets, and you better have earplugs because I might end talking your ears off miss-" Axel paused, looking at the Lieutenant. "I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

"I am former Lieutenant Bastet Lynx, at your service." Her golden eyes flashed with glowing pride and she grinned to show off her large canine teeth, looking at him like a devious alley cat. He felt his heart skip a beat, unsure of whether to feel scared, surprised, confused, attracted to her, or all three at the same time. For some reason he felt more comfortable going with the last option.


	5. Malfunction

Another long day, another painfully slow talk with a politician too scared to take action against the Grimm, but not so afraid that they wouldn't immediately enlist the aid of and offer hefty paychecks to a pair of Hunters to save them. If that wasn't annoying enough on it's own, the damnable fools had been bossing around professional Hunters on how to deal with a threat they had been trained for years to fight against.

The paperwork and meetings were an important aspect of doing Hunter work. After all It was necessary to coordinate and catalog Grimm attacks to predict patterns and allocate resources, it's just that there were days when it could weigh on a person's shoulders like so many bricks. Blabbering, incessant bricks.

For the Grimm Reaper and Wicked Witch it was relieving to just get outside. Now that they went through with the usual bureaucracy, the two of them could get some coffee, kill some time together, and enjoy the night air. Frigid, howling night air that rushed through the high mountains located north of the city. In the late autumn the nights were getting quite cold. It was a good think they got two cups each, otherwise they'd both be very cranky.

"I still cannot believe you talked me into this Glynda."

Of course there were some things two extra large coffees couldn't cure, like the furious ramblings of a half-demon woman with a serious vendetta against the very concept of peace and quiet itself.

Katherine had been ranting from the first second they stepped out of the mayor's office to the coffee store, to their stealth transport, through the mountain pass, and up to their current lofty position. What's more, she had continued talking without once losing her place in what Glynda was convinced was an entire script's worth of grievances. Katherine's emotions had been boiling up the entire day, any second she could burst. It was a wonder she was even able to keep herself from smashing the entire mountain range in frustration. Thankfully she had only caused one or two minor rock slides since they arrived.

"This. Is. Ridiculous!" Katherine's fist slammed into the cliff-side with force that shook the entire mountain. Off in the distance Glynda could hear the cracks and crashes of pieces of the mountain being displaced, falling and shattering to bits that stumbled down to the valley.  
>Okay, so Katherine had caused <em>three <em>rock slides since they had arrived. Still it was progress, after all she'd caused three times that many in their first semester, and no less than two earthquakes under the mess hall alone.

"What ever do you mean Katherine?"  
>Glynda was curious to see if she could get a few more of the natural disasters out of her friend before the day was out. Katherine certainly seemed eager to provide, with eyes that could outright incinerate with the fire Glynda could see in them clear as day.<p>

"I mean Witch, that your idea of bringing Axel with us was utterly ridiculous." Katherine snarled in a demonic tone. "I still haven't the foggiest clue on how you managed to convince me it was anything close to a good idea!" Katherine's fist clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white, and even started shaking a little as the Grimm Reaper continued to ramble on. The sight was oddly amusing for Glynda.

"Perhaps you should calm yourself Katherine, relax a bit before the attack comes." Glynda spoke to her with neutral voice and demeanor. Though her calming words had the exact opposite effect on her oh so tranquil, collected friend.

Just as the very last syllable left Glynda's lips, the titanium sledgehammer that was Katherine's fist slammed _through_ the cliff side. It was as if solid rock was paper under her strength, and the mountains reflected this fragility when the ground the two stood on shook. It shook so intensely that fissures formed in its surface, branching out from when Katherine's fist collided. Dust fell on their feet and rocks tumbled all over the formerly flat area that was their perch. Glynda could see the very top of their own mountain start to crack, scattering pieces down its sides. One such slab plummeted straight to them with ever-increasing speed.

"Rain can be so irritating." Glynda muttered. With a single flick of her wrist, the massive chunk of rock ceased all downward momentum mere feet above their heads. Now it was coated in a faint purple glow of her magic, an amusing sight for the Wicked Witch.  
>She rotated the boulder in the air with the slow movements of her fingers, watching it with mild interest to pass the time. Meanwhile, Katherine remained where she was though she had removed her fist from the cliffside. Somehow her coffee was still intact, which was quite impressive and a real sign of her unique self-control.<br>Though Glynda quickly tired of this enforced silence, and with a huff she dropped her hand while simultaneously slamming the boulder deep into their perch with a nearly deafening crunch.

"Katherine." Glynda called her friend, but she remained silent and stationary. "You do not need to reiterate the nature of this mission." Katherine's eyes suddenly shot up to glare right into Glynda's own with animalistic fury, barely restrained by her control.

"Shouldn't I? Because as I remember, you told me to bring my own child into a town about to be attacked by Grimm! What part of that sounds remotely sane to you, Witch?" Glynda sighed, rising from her seat as she put down her coffee.

"The town won't be attacked, because we're here."  
>Katherine seemed to not hear Glynda's words again, in fact she was still clenching her coffee like it was a Grimm's neck.<p>

"I'm not comfortable with bringing him anywhere dangerous. He should be at home, safe and reading books or tinkering with his gadgets, not in a town where a horde of Grimm is readying to attack. That boy can't be somewhere like this. For all we know his eyes could be acting up right now. What if he gets an attack and-"

"Damon!" Glynda shouted, shocking Katherine from her stupor. The Hunter looked at Glynda with still angry eyes, like Glynda was the source of the problem.

"Please do not give me that look, it's very unsettling." Katherine smirked at that. "Furthermore, please do not blame me for the decision to bring Axel here. You still have a poor memory after all these years. You forget that you agreed to this Katherine. You agreed to my idea of bringing your son here. I listed out all the risks to you, I held back no details or hypothetical situations from you so you would know the possibilities and risks if you did agree."

"Do you think you can just-"

"And you did agree. You agreed knowing full well the risks you'd be taking." To this, Katherine had no defense, nor accusation to fling at her friend. The fire in her eyes, while never having died since the day she was born, receded as her anger died down as well.

"I know I agreed. But I'm still not happy that I did Glynda. Axel shouldn't be out here, he should be back home." Glynda sighed, knowing she was about to risk her neck with her next words.

"With whom exactly? Alexander? He's a loving father, but he's far too busy with his company to even think of being a stay-at-home father to look after Axel. Do you mean his siblings then? The twins are already busy with military training and their schooling to be reliable babysitters. Katherine, leaving him at home would make him miserable and hopeless with his situation, and no doubt resentful of you and Alexander for feeling like he was being held back."

Katherine made a single face at her old friend, working off her tension with a feral snarl. Then, with a mighty breath and the full power of the Damon bloodline, she took a heavy swig of her coffee. Well, at least she was certainly alert and ready for a long night fighting the good fight against Grimm.

"You really know how to lay down some gospel truth Glynda." She chuckled, her voice coated in a bitterness that rivaled that of the jet-black coffee in her hand. Oddly enough, she was one of those people who would calm down the more coffee they ingested. After a few more gulps, Glynda could see and hear Katherine's breathing slow.

"I know this is hard for you Katherine. But if you don't let Axel take even the tiniest risk he'll-" Suddenly Katherine raised a finger, signaling Glynda to stop for a moment.

"What is it? Hear anything?"  
>Glynda dropped into combat mode as she turned her senses to the outlying forest and mountains through which the horde would have to wind through in order to reach the mountain pass. Grimm could be approaching at any moment at this late hour.<p>

Fortunately Katherine's own alertness dropped, shaking her head as she slumped back down on the hard ground. Glynda strolled over to her comrade, the woman that she considered her closest friend in her life. She didn't know the pressures of having a spouse or a family. For Glynda, the job was all that really mattered to her, it was all that she had wanted. Katherine wanted all of that and more.

"Katherine," Glynda sat beside her. "Axel has potential he doesn't even know is there. If he's given a chance I have no doubt he could become a fine Hunter alongside so many others. You love him and fear for him, as you should. But if you-"

"If I don't let him get out and try, I'll be stifling his potential." Katherine sighed. "I know. I've thought about this hundreds of times in the last week. That boy wants to be a Hunter so badly. I want him to succeed Glynda, I just can't help but feel scared for him, he could have an episode at any moment." Her fist clenched around her coffee again, only this time Glynda could feel a dark energy channeling into her fist. Katherine was channeling, however inadvertently, her demonic powers.

"Yet here I am, waiting on a far-off mountain for a Grimm horde that by rights we shouldn't even have to bother with! This 'mission ' is just ridiculous. I know this is important Glynda, but I can't just help but worry with these damned maternal instincts!"

Katherine's wrath fell upon her coffee cup, but instead of crushing its plastic frame to pieces as Glynda expected, the cup was launched high into the air, flung with the might of Katherine's arm. The cup had no downward arc as it rocketed off into the horizon, it only kept flying up and up into the atmosphere, and Glynda swore she could see a tiny vapor cone around it not unlike that around a jet breaking the sound barrier.

When she could no longer see it, Glynda turned back to see her friend leaning up against the still dented and fractured cliff side with her arms cross and a stiff frown on her face.

"I'm just a bit tense is all Glynda." she grumbled.

"I know Kat." Glynda rose from her own seat and reached down into the box they acquired from the coffee shop, pulling out another extra large cup. When the Grimm Reaper was on the war path, one learned to have several extra coffees on hand.

"But Axel won't be in any danger. We're here to fight the threat, while your son is back in Gale, where he can watch us alongside Lieutenant Bastet from behind giant, firepower-laden turrets. He will see the people in the city afraid of the Grimm threat, and us fighting to protect them from said Grimm." Glynda leaned up to her friend. "Coffee?"

"Oh God yes." Katherine snatched the mug out of her friend's hand. With a single dip of the lid, she took in a massive gulp of the searing hot liquid, being nothing more than lukewarm water to her iron stomach and throat.

"That help?" Glynda asked.

"Mostly." Katherine affirmed. Glynda nodded with a minuscule smile. From seeing her friends calm if grumpy demeanor, she could tell the storm in Katherine's eyes had subsided. She was still worried beyond belief for her son, but she had spoken her mind to someone who would listen - with the occasional snark - and blown off steam. She was at least calmed enough to focus on their mission.

"You'll feel better once the Grimm get here." she assured as Katherine kept on chugging. Upon hearing her friend. Katherine abruptly lowered her coffee, looking off to the side with narrowed eyes. She quickly laid down the mug on a nearby boulder and gently pushed Glynda aside to gain a clear view of the distant valley. She sniffed the air, her heightened senses stretching across the landscape. Glynda set aside her own coffee and readjusted her glasses.

"Where are they?"

"Ten clicks to the north, and twelve clicks to the north-east and north-west. There's three herds of Grimm coming from different lairs and converging with each other as they get closer. That's new."

"What is?" Glynda asked, readying her riding crop.

"Usually its just the largest herd that comes to attack, the one with the most strength gets the first pickings. The smaller groups stay back and scavenge what they can. They've never cooperated like this before. They're gathering together Glynda." Katherine quickly whipped around to glare at her friend. "They're coming, fast."

"How delightful." Glynda chuckled. She cracked her knuckles, eyeing the valley with her less honed senses. It was getting to the point that even she, with her measly human sense could smell and hear the approaching horde. The Grimm had a distinct smell of sulfur that was rather faint when a single one of them was near. But an entire herd of them were impossible to not notice when the cloud of their stench came drifting by. As it was now, Glynda was just beginning to catch the scent. They were coming, and they were indeed coming very fast.

"They're moving faster than we thought." she said. Katherine agreed.

"At this pace we'll be able to box in the entire horde. I'll close off their only route of escape with Dämon Kraft." Katherine drew a small black rod patterned with dark blue flames, barely the length of her forearm.

"Oh yes Katherine. Obliterate them with the might of a single tiny rod."

"Come now Witch, you know me better than to show a silly thing like restraint when it comes to Grimm." With a flick of her wrist, Katherine's weapon quickly extended into a six-foot staff that she twirled in her hand. Her weapon. Her magnificent tool that mowed down and burned all who would oppose her. Made of material her clan kept hidden from the world, precious metal that made it nigh indestructible.

"I can expect you will be using your more...Unique abilities yes?"

Katherine nodded in response, and signaled Glynda to take up position several feet behind her. Glynda quickly strolled to her spot and readied her riding crop, something she found far more useful for channeling spells and directing objects than a flimsy wand or cumbersome staff. From where she stood, she could begin readying her spells while being clear of Katherine's aura.  
>Some things existed that even the Wicked Witch needed to stand clear of, and one of those was a half-demon awakening their power.<p>

Katherine jabbed forward with the arm holding her staff. The ends bend towards her, several mechanisms within unfolded a tiny slit in the staff to spring out a thin but durable cord. The cord's arrow nock shot out from the center, pulling the cord taut and finishing the weapons transformation. No longer a mere staff, it was a mighty bow to rain down hellfire.

Glynda could feel that deep ocean of power stirring in her friend, a strength Katherine rarely used. She could feel rumblings of it in the air right now, electrifying the atmosphere itself with a dark power as Katherine's voice changed. It became deep. It became black. It became demonic.

**"_Coram me inferno."_** The air around Katherine burst and the ground cracked. Her body illuminated with a fiery blue aura. It possessed no heat and it moved like slow water, but it had a weight to it like the deep sea. Katherine's hair lit with a far brighter flame, and moved about as if caught in an invisible wind.

**"**_**Aperta sunt, et vident indignis."** _The blue flames exploded as Katherine spoke the second line of her chant. What was once a sluggish flow in the air had flared into a silently raging fire. Katherine's hair thrashed in the air while her eyes turned a deep blood red. Eyes that had been memorialized in song throughout human history. If the eyes were the windows to the soul, than Katherine's eyes showed a power born from the darkest pits of Hell. Pure darkness re-purposed through her and her clan to burn, to freeze, and to wipe the whole of Remnant clean of the Grimm.

When Katherine looked over to Glynda, she found it a bit unsettling when those eyes met her own with all the hellish power they possessed. It only grew worse when Katherine smirked.

**"_Come on Glynda, let's make the Grimm go kablooey!" _**

And then reality came crashing back down around Glynda's eyes.

"Just fire your damn arrows Damon." She hissed.

**"_Aye aye Kapitän!"_** Katherine looked back out at the horizon, where the night wind howled through the air. Be it gales or blizzards, the wind didn't matter to her archery. Katherine cracked her wrist, and then cracked the air around her free palm with power. A ball of red-black flame sparked into existence in her grasp. Katherine drew back the bowstring and shaped the ball into a massive flaming arrow. For several tense moments she waited.

"How close are they to the valley?" Glynda asked through her meditation.

**"_Just about." _**

"We could just burn them up before they even arrived." Katherine simple shrugged.

"_**How can I miss out on the opportunity to show off for my kids? Besides Glynda, I know you can't wait to show Axel the indomitable power and might of the one and only Wicked Witch."** _Glynda's mood turned sour, the slightest crack in her concentration.

**"_You aren't saying no." _**Katherine taunted in her singing tone.

"Damon, fire the damn arrow before I rip your-"

**"_The Grimm are in position! Fire in the hole!"_ **Katherine shouted. She aimed at the thin stretch of land that opened into the small valley, and released the arrow. In defiance of gravity the arrow traveled into a deadly straight line and whistled through the air. The arrow disappeared into the night, and for a few seconds there was silence.

Then the other end of the valley exploded. A massive fireball erupted where the arrow struck, with a shockwave that vaporized the nearby trees, scorched the earth, and even rocked the mountain range to scatter even more gigantic boulders and fracture them into more jagged pieces. The fire spread across the bottleneck, roaring so loudly that Glynda could hear it from even miles away. The light was like the opposite of light. Its glow was unsettling and in defiance of reality. This transcended Dust and magic itself. There were some days when Glynda was glad there were so few of Katherine's kind left in Remnant.

Katherine thrust her arm forth again and Dämon Kraft's parts clanked and whirred, reverting the weapon back into its staff mode. She twirled the mighty weapon overhead, and slammed it into the rock face. With a slow breath she dispelled her Damon power. Her blazing aura disappeared into the air and her eyes reverted to their normal color.

"There, the trap is set." Katherine said. Glynda merely sighed.

"Your Ignem Inferni magic is always so destructive."

"You mean effective!" Katherine boasted. "Now come on. I want to tear these things limb from limb before they get near my kid." She ripped her staff out of the rock, readying it at her side. "Let's get down there."

"For once Katherine, we agree completely." Glynda stood beside her friend. They stood at the precipice, looking out on the valley.

The forests mostly obscured the ground, but Glynda could just make out the black shapes beneath the green. Hundreds and hundreds of writhing, scrambling shapes that were racing to the only other way out, straight to Lantern's Gale. These creatures sought only to tear and rip and eat the populace. Many times before they had succeeded. Humans past had fought and died against them, only to one day fall in combat, freeing the creatures to wreak havoc on humanity.

Today was to be yet another day when the Grimm who expected a herd of sheep, would find two Hunters before them. The Wicked Witch and the Grimm Reaper would crush this horde, and they would do so thoroughly and magnificently. Without a word to break the silence they lept into the open air. They flew off the cliffside into the jaws of death, determined to shatter the teeth and burn the tongue.

* * *

><p>From the city of Lantern's Gale the only sign the people had of the oncoming storm was the sound. It was not the sound of Grimm howling in the night. That was inaudible; masked by the rumble of the mountains, the shaking of the ground, and the unnatural roar in the air from an unknown source. People could tell where it came from though, the distant mountains where two powers beyond comprehension were fighting the swarms.<p>

From atop the wall, two unsuspecting but anxious people watched the spectacle. Up this high, Axel and Bastet could see the glow of a small-scale war being waged. It was hard to make out without the binoculars. But if they used the binoculars, the two would be blinded by looking too closely at what could only be described as raw power. It was the might of humanity destroying the horde of Grimm.

That, and there were two fireballs the size of the skyscrapers.

In the mountains they could see the glowing orbs of destruction. One was a radiant and smooth purple, more akin to the steady glow of a lamp than an explosion. The other was a more fiery variant that was covered in a deep sapphire blaze. Axel didn't need to use his Aura sense to know which was which.

"Now that Bastet, that is what happens when my mom doesn't get her morning coffee...Or when she has too much evening coffee...Either way it results in pain for everyone involved." Axel chuckled as he leaned up against the wall from their catwalk. He was practically choking from trying to hold back his laughter.

"I bet Glynda planned that. She knew what would happen if mom got too much coffee! So she weaponized my mom's caffeine rage! I can see it now!"  
>With the image of his mom tearing apart the countryside screaming for more coffee etched into his mind, Axel fell on his back in joyous hysterics. For the first time this week he ignored the pain of falling on a hard surface that was utterly trounced by the image of the Grimm Reaper craving caffeine. Bastet for one, was less amused and more horrified.<p>

"I knew that Miss Krieger had a knack for collateral damage, but seeing this level of...Overkill completely eclipses everything I ever saw in the military. This power breaks all the laws. Physics, dust-conversion, nature. Everything, smashed to tiny little pieces.."

"Yep, mom'll do that! Everything crumbles when she's out for coffee!" Axel giggled.

"One explosion of this size I haven't seen since...Ever.. Never. Not possible. Incomprehensible. Unfeasible. Completely incalculable. If it was one fireball that would be acceptable. With all their power and considerable prep time a single Hunter could manifest such an explosion. But these are two, _two_ massive fireballs created at a moments notice. They did it with such ease. The power of those two is-"

"Incalculable?" Axel interrupted. Bastet saw that he was still on his back, but quickly rising back to his feet. "It's amazing, I know."

"You aren't the least bit frightened by seeing your mother conjure up so much power on a whim? The fact that we can at this moment see her carving apart hundreds, maybe thousands of Grimm to shreds like paper-mache does not fill you with the tiniest amount of fear, dread, anxiousness-"

"Not really."

Bastet's neck creaked as it rotated to look at the boy with no sanity. The boy was watching the destruction not seen since the dawn of the planet with childish awe. So either he lived in an environment far more dangerous than any on Remnant, or he had discarded every single last marble he possessed years ago. Based on what his file showed and the training methods that Miss Krieger put her children through, either one was equally possible.

"Are you alright Bastet?"

"Pardon?" Bastet's mind had wandered off to parts unknown in but a few seconds. She didn't notice that the boy with no sanity had regained his footing. With his curious eyes, he looked out on the battlefield.

"Well, I am not unpleasant at this point in time. I expect I will acclimate to the sight of my boss wreaking untold havoc on the landscape. It's unsettling, unnerving, eery, but I will adapt."

"Well, you do get used to it after a time. But I don't mean that."

"I do not follow Krieger." Bastet responded. Very rarely was she ever left in the dark.

"Well..I apologize if this is sudden considering the fantastic light-show, but did you notice anything odd on the way up here? I've had this feeling since we arrived."

"I do not follow."

Axel nodded in response. "One second, I'm going to feel out the air." Axel's eyes narrowed. He wasn't focusing on the horizon. He wasn't even looking at the battle that was lighting up the entire mountain range. Bastet could feel it in the air around them, a power that unknowingly resembled that of his mother. His eyes were unfocused while his other senses cast themselves forth into the air.

It was a fairly common ability commonly called Aura sense. One's Aura was normally confined to their body and extended onto tools or weapons. But when a person gained enough experience with their Aura, it could extended outward as an sensory energy field, and the least common was an ability seen only in those with what could only be described as a unique resonance with the world.

According to the few accounts describing this phenomenon, it could be a positive outlook on life, or a nihilistic view of the humanity, or a feeling of connection to the world itself. Simply put, it was a belief or view of the world held so strongly by the user that it attuned them to the world of Remnant. With it they could sense the presence of others.

"Do you sense anything?" she asked. Axel scowled from where he stood.

"I can feel the hordes my mom and aunt are fighting. Its like a big gray mass." He chuckled. "Though its hard to feel them at all when mom and aunt Glynda are glowing like two suns. If this is what true Hunters are capable of then I got quite a ways to go."  
>Axel's smile was one of sheer awe and amazement. That his two mother figures had such power in them, and chosen to use that power to defend human and faunus alike…He didn't have words to describe the pride, amazement, dumbstruck, and the thousands of other emotions rushing through his head.<p>

There was an indescribable glory in their heroics. The glory of being creatures who could wreak untold havoc and destruction, yet focused it on the Grimm, away from humans. The glory of being etched into legend and memorialized in songs that would be shared in the pubs and schoolyards and campfires. This was what he wanted, to become a legend! A shining beacon for justice, courage, power! To be something more than a mere man, more than human. He'd be Axel Krieger, legendary Hunter of the Grimm, known for the rest of human history. It was the highest achievement any person could reach.

Glory...It sounded so appealing, to be recognized by everyone as you walked down the street, to have children and women lining up to meet you and get an autograph. Lots of famous Hunters were given monuments. Olaf the Insurmountable and "Whirlwind" Wesley had statues in Beacon's capital, and his own mom was known in all the four kingdoms for the countless Grimm hordes she had faced down and destroyed, eventually gaining the nickname "Grimm Reaper." He could be one as well. A legend. An ideal. A hero to human and faunus kind.

"Axel Krieger."

More than human….

"Axel Krieger..."

No longer a man, just an image...

"Axel Krieger!"

"Huh? What?"

Axel was rudely shaken from his stupor. Everything that had been drowned out in his mind came flooding back in an instant. The feel of the cold metal platform on his hands, the quiet yet warm breeze from the explosions, and most of all the giant curious eyes of Bastet staring into Axel's very soul.

"Right, sorry about that. I got a bit distracted by...Distractions." Axel shook his head to clear his foggy mind. This was getting really frustrating for him, thinking about what he wanted; what he wanted to be. It was something that still evaded him.

Carnage? He didn't have the taste for wanton brutality and mayhem, so that was out of the question. Exploration? Being alone out in the vast expanse of nature, away from everyone he knew was something that scared him more than Grimm. Glory...Despite the positives that came with it, he didn't want glory. Or did he?

He refocused his senses to search for that itch in the back of his head, to find what had put him on edge. But the questions kept nipping at his head almost as bad as his episodes did. Carnage, exploration, and glory had all been lacking in his eyes. He didn't want them, or he at least didn't want them as anything to cling to, to serve as his foundation for becoming a Hunter.

There was something else missing, an unknown quality he wanted. No, he didn't want it. He needed it. Without something to fight for, what was the point in fighting at all!? He didn't want to mow down his enemies like cattle, to explore a howling wasteland on his own, or to transcend his life as a man to rise into legend. If only he-

"Ah!" Axel's senses were jolted. More than that, it was like someone had hooked up jumper cables to his skull and fired on all pistons. His mind burned, cooked in the sudden sensation. He lost his tight grip on the wall, crumpling to his side in agony as he yelped in pain.

"Axel Krieger!" Bastet shouted. Without a single movement waisted, she zipped to his side. Her arms darted around his chest and pulled him up ever so gently, to rest him against the wall. She had a tough time doing it, the boy was twitching and jerking the whole time.

"Krieger, look at me, focus on my voice." She had to get him to concentrate, it was the only way to even begin alleviating the episodes. But to her surprise, Axel was focused. His eyes were glossy and fluctuating in their coloration like the videos and reports showed. He was looking right at her. His eyes had gone from their shining green to a dull emerald.

"Bastet, we have to move. We have to get clear." Axel stuttered while only barely maintaining eye contact with her. Bastet's expression turned confused.

"What are you talking about? Clarify, give further detail!" Axel grabbed her wrist, clenching on it with all his might to keep himself in the clear. Bastet wasn't hurt by his grip, for she was far more concerned with what this boy was saying.

"I felt something out there. Away from that fight in the mountains. It's not the tiny blip of a single Grimm Bastet. When a powerful enough being is in the range of my senses, it leaves an impact, like tossing a rock into a pool." Axel was shaking now, truly afraid. "Well somebody dropped a damn boulder into the pool, because I felt something humongous."

"But that shouldn't be a problem," Bastet responded. "your mother and Miss Goodwitch are facing the horde right now. Another stronger Grimm shouldn't be a problem for them." Her hope was caste away when Axel shook his head, blubbering incomprehensibly as if speech suddenly left him.

"You mean it isn't coming from the mountains." Bastet said. Axel responded with a quick nod, still clinging to her wrist as if his life depended on it, and given what was coming, it very well might. They had to move, had to hide. But Bastet had to know more. They needed to alert the city, get people to safety.

"We need to know from where, can you feel it Axel? Where is it coming from?"

With his teeth clenched, Axel cast out his senses again to find where this massive thing was coming from. He had to make sure he got the position perfect, otherwise the people in the city would get slaughtered. This wasn't a single horde. When a large group of Grimm were together, they registered as individual specks that blurred together, a great big smear on the landscape. Large, but not producing that much of an effect.

But what he felt wasn't a horde. It was just one single Grimm. Something so big and so powerful that it made the hundreds attacking look miniscule, and it was coming straight here. If he could find it, they could defend against it, prevent any casualties. They had to keep the citizens safe, and it started with him finding the damn horror coming right now.

Unfortunately, Axel didn't need his aura sense to find it.

"It's...It's already here." His shaking hand rose, pointing past Bastet, at the night, cloudy sky. There was a massive shape. Moving incredibly fast or slow, he couldn't tell which. The shape was so dark that it would stand out against the pitch black of night. With his mind being knocked in several directions at once, he could only see the wings. Massive wings that reached across the sky. Even when it was miles away, every flap of those terrible wings could be felt in the air around them. It was large, it was hungry, and this massive creature was coming straight at them.

Bastet saw it too, but far more clearly with her greater faunus senses. If Axel was feeling the greatest fear since his accident, it was nothing compared to the unrivaled dread, the horror of seeing a monster that terrified and knowing exactly what it could do. For the first time since he'd met her, Axel saw pure terror on Bastet's face. He didn't need to warn her of the danger of this threat, she already knew from the slightest glance.

"Can you run Axel?" she asked. Axel shook his head, but rose to his feet anyway.

"Run. We have to run. No time to stop." He still couldn't control his speech, but that didn't matter. What did matter was getting the hell down the wall before that thing reached them. In his current state he could barely stand upright, so she pulled his arm over her shoulders, supporting him with her own strength that helped Axel steady himself. The elevator was some distance away, and from there they could get to a bunker away from whatever terrifying creature was coming at them. It was a slim chance, but it was the only one they had.

They moved with all the speed they could muster with Axel in his wounded state. His body still jerked even as they ran for their lives. The metal pathway thumped under their footsteps, an unsteady beat. Bastet could only guess that Axel was being hit with an episode the very second he had sensed the massive Grimm headed their way. If the episodes were a fear response, it was entirely appropriate in this situation.

"I can't tell where it is. It's getting close. Don't know where."

"It is right behind us Axel, moving straight at us. Focus on running, moving, fleeing."

"But it's coming too fast. We can't escape, we can't flee before it swallows us whole!"

"Don't worry, if we can just reach the elevator-" Bastet's words died in the air. She hadn't stopped speaking, but the sound of her voice was crushed. They couldn't be heard when a terrible shriek thundered from all directions.

It was the sound of the sky itself being ripped to shreds. The anger and hunger of a monster echoed in the air with a disorienting screech that made the skin crawl on every person in Lantern's Gale, and that sensation was swiftly followed by the countless screams. As if in response to a bird call, the populace let loose their own horrified wails. The Grimm was here, it wanted to feed, and everyone knew. Axel could hear the voices, he could hear the cries of children. Every man, woman, and child in Lantern's Gale screaming in terror. The sound of it hurt more than his episodes by a thousand fold. Their fear was his own.

Then his senses registered a shadow overhead. For a split second he, Bastet, and a large section of the wall were covered in a shadow, as if the wrath of the heavens were focused on them and them alone. But it only lasted a second, and for a brief moment Axel thought they were safe.

But just as quickly, the peace was shattered. Shattered as a large section of the wall was smashed into pieces. The enormous structure was hit with an unseen object that tore through it all in a second flat. The section containing the elevator wasn't just demolished, it was completely gone. It was reduced into a jagged divide in the barrier that stretched from the very top all the way to the ground, leaving only a pile of marble-coated metal wreckage.

"Why haven't those turrets gotten a lock on the Grimm?" Bastet cursed. "It got close enough to smashed the wall, but they don't have a lock!?" Indeed, for while they had been running for their lives, Axel and Bastet failed to notice that the turrets had been following the movements of the creature overhead, but not a single shot had been fired.

"They can't." Axel muttered. "Moves too fast, turrets are too slow to follow."

"No." The one line of escape they had, reduced to rubble on the ground. Bastet could even see the glass and metal box that was their route of escape, now crushed to bits. The Grimm was gone just as suddenly as it appeared. Bastet looked all over the sky for it. The cloud-covered dark sky, washed in gray and inky black was the perfect cover for an airborne Grimm. The monster was using hit-and-run tactics, and its first hit had destroyed their one route to safety.

The air itself shook when another scream came from on high. High above the clouds no doubt. Even from so far, the screech rattled the earth itself, and hurt Bastet's sensitive cat-ears that were only protected by the thin fabric in her hat. For a split second she flinched, a single moment where she let the fear of the massive Grimm overhead affect her. But in that small moment of hesitation, the screech from high above suddenly changed directions. It wasn't coming from up in the sky, it was right behind them.

The creature moved with terrifying speed, having dived with such velocity that it reached the wall before Axel could even shout when he saw it coming right at them. Even with wide-eyes and a mind filled to the brim with adrenaline, he could only make out the gigantic wings. They were stretched to their greatest length, creating a low growl in the air as the Grimm flew low. The creature came closer and closer even as he and Bastet ran with all the speed they could muster. He couldn't even scream as the sensation of hot needles spread across his entire body with every movement he made.

The deep rumble from the wings in the air suddenly changed in pitch, becoming more piercing in a painful instant, and the section of wall they had been stood on minutes before shattered. The crashing sound didn't stop like it had before though. The metal and marble of the wall was being continually smashed as Axel and Bastet ran for their lives. Foot after foot of the wall was destroyed, and it was moving far faster than the two could run.

"What the hell is happening?" Axel struggled to shout over the shrieks and whines of metal being shredded.

"The Grimm is using its wing to cut through the walls and turrets! We need to get down into the city before it reaches us!" Axel looked behind them, and saw a tidal wave of metal and stone, an upturning of the wall that grew larger and larger, behind it was the horrible plow of the wing strong enough to ram the construction without even losing speed. In fact, it was gaining on them! Any second the wing or debris would crush them both! Axel screamed.

"Bastet, look out!"

The wing rushed at them with a sudden burst of speed. The rubble wave tripled in size without warning, and cracks formed along the wall. The cracks rapidly overtook Axel and Bastet, racing underfoot. The metal beneath them exploded. Marble flew into the air in large chunks and clouds of dust. Both of them were launched into the air madly flailing. The massive upheaval had caused the wall to shatter in two and burst in all directions.

Axel could barely comprehend what was happening. First he was running, now he was being thrown through the air as the wall both collapsed and burst like a geyser of debris. He was spinning in all sorts of directions, and his body continued to course with the terrible pain. The black wing was a great sword that sliced the barrier. He was flying away from it, barely keeping himself focused to see the Grimm's wing carve a path with frightening speed. Just as quickly as it caused terrifying destruction, its wing changed it's angle again, curving up and slicing through more of the wall. The creature disappeared back into the night, and another deafening shriek filled the air.

Time seemed to fall to a slow pace around Axel. His rapid ascent was a slow drift in the cold wind to him now. However involuntarily, he could see the full extent of the damage. It was cataclysmic. The wall that had been so proudly constructed now had a massive divide. It was still falling to pieces before his eyes. The slabs of marble and metal tumbled to the ground, shattering more and more as they collided with each other, before crumbling into mere rubble as they hit the earth. The section he was one moments before was...Bastet. Where was Bastet?

As if by reflex, Axel's eyes activated their zoom function, focusing on the most recently demolished portion of the wall. In the midst of the debris was still flying through the air, Axel saw her. She was scratched and bleeding, but she was alive. For a second Axel was overjoyed that his faunus friend was alright. But her face...

Her eyes were clenched tight in the midst of her launch, and in the chaos and upheaval, her hat slipped off her head. It flew off, releasing a mane of jet-black hair, and revealing her tiny black cat ears beneath. Axel screamed her name as loud as he could even though he couldn't hear the words himself. But she did hear him, and her eyes opened to see her charge falling to his death. Her bright yellow eyes opened wide, her mouth stretched as she screamed his name, a sound he couldn't hear, and her arm reached out to someone she could never possibly reach.

The sight of her, it was as if he was back in the alley. When he'd lost Katze.

The only difference was that he hadn't been able to save Bastet. The Grimm was already on its way back. He knew it even if he couldn't see the monster coming at her like a bullet. It cast a shadow that grew larger as it came closer to Bastet. For whatever reason, the monster was targeting the two of them. The creature was going to reach Bastet at any second, and there was nothing he could do to stop it!

No.

Axel quickly reached into his jacket and whipped out one of his Tod Gluhens. A single flick of his finger activated the flare rounds, and he fired the shots as fast as his trigger finger would allow. He couldn't see the damn Grimm, but it would certainly see him.

The flares soared through the air and left small smoke trails behind them in their flight path. Every squeeze of the trigger filled Axel's arm with agonizing pain, but he didn't care anymore. If he was to die like this, then so be it. At the very least he could buy Bastet and the city some time, even if it was just by being a snack for the Grimm.

The monster seemed to agree and changed its flight path changed, Axel could see so in its shadow and the heavy gust of another wing-beat. The air echoed with its all-encompassing shriek, this time so loud that it shocked all of Axel's senses. He lost control, and fell into the pain that clung to him and refused to let go.

His vision was becoming blurry. His eyelids felt heavy, and slowly fell. Everything was drowned out as his senses could only register his pain. He couldn't scream or grab anything to focus, just exist in the empty air while his death loomed overhead. Then, with the sudden wrenching sensation of his body being snatched from the air, everything went dark, and a horrible painful sleep overtook him.


	6. Reconstruction

Axel's head felt sore. The pain in his body was still very much there, stabbing every inch of him when he made the tiniest movement. Somehow the afterlife was turning out to be just as painful as his normal one. He was supposed to be at peace, not lying in the dirt. Unless…

The feeling had returned to his hands so that he could feel the ground. Cold, moist grass lay between his fingers, as well as his cheek. He could feel the moisture evaporating on his skin, and the roughness of hard soil. His hearing was slowly coming back to him, as was his sense of smell. Everything smelled foul to him, but he couldn't quite nail it down. His ear drums were reverberating so that sound was heavily distorted. He heard low grumbles nearby, unlike anything a human or animal could produce. He definitely was not in heaven, unless Angels were slobbering beasts with enormous teeth.  
>But the smell was what stuck out for him. It was a burning, tangy scent. Then he realized it was the stench of sulfur. He struggled to move his neck. His body ached with the effort, but he somehow managed to move it just enough to see what kind of hellhole he landed in.<p>

The grass under his fingers was thick and stretched out around him for some distance before being concealed under the shade of the trees. He was in a small clearing, beyond which he could glimpse the tall evergreens. The whole area was covered in the blackness of night. It couldn't have been that long since he was…Since he was kidnapped by a flying horror.

He'd been falling, then suddenly he wasn't. He had been wrenched out of the sky by the Grimm that had smashed a humongous wall without any difficulty. The creature wanted to kill, and he had made himself a flailing meal for the monster, so why hadn't it killed him the second he'd been grabbed?

The question had to wait when he heard the rumblings around him again, only this time in their full clarity, and his situation became horribly clear to him.

He was alone, far from Lantern's Gale, with Grimm coming in for a fresh kill.

He had to move.

Axel strained to push himself up, but his arms suddenly coursed with the pain that made him slump back down. It wasn't hot needles this time. The pain was almost identical to what he felt back then; it was like that rebar was being pushed straight through him all over again.

He still couldn't even scream. He lay on the ground, eyes open to the horror that was coming, paralyzed and helpless to run. If only he could run back to the city, he could have a chance to get help. All he could do was run and cower when the pain came to him. He'd die here, a failure who ended up as a scrap of meat for Grimm. There were worse ways to die at least. He could've died from a cold, or starved in the streets of Beacon while people walked by uncaring of his fate.

His mind drifted back, to when he first fell and lost his sight. He wondered where Katze had gone off too since that day. Was she doing alright since the accident? Did she finally meet that Adam fellow she had always talked about? Was she even still alive? Questions he'd probably find in the actual afterlife when the Grimm came here.

But then again, there was no reason for them to stop with just him.. Countless people in the city would die if that flying Grimm came back. Even though Glynda and his mom would return, that creature would attack and kill so many people. Human, faunus, none of it mattered to these things.

That's all they wanted after all. Food.

Axel's hand squeezed the grass even as pain burned his limbs. The Grimm were coming fast, eager for their first kill; him. But nothing would satisfy them, no amount of flesh would satisfy or convince a Grimm to ever stop killing. Once they were done with him, they'd move to the city. To Bastet, to every man, woman, and child.

Axel's fist clenched tighter and tighter. He struggled to raise his neck. The creatures had no remorse, no compassion or comprehension of their sole purpose. They didn't know the horror of what they did, and they didn't give a damn. Not a single person would be spared if the Grimm had their way. Everyone they met would die.

In the clearing, several Beowolves and Ursas came to see that their flying compatriot had dropped them a fresh snack. Their glowing red eyes saw the lump of flesh that was absolutely radiating with misery and anger. They were so hungry and eager to sate that hunger, so much that a single Beowolf rushed out ahead of its pack in spite of the danger of breaking the feeding order. It was just so hungry that its sense of fear was nullified by the hunger. Its jaw was dripping with drool as it stopped over the tiny human. Something was strange about this meat, something about its smell. The creature leaned in, nose smelling the creature's scent.

Then a sharp piece of metal pierced its skull.

Axel's arm was raised and pointed right at the Beowolf's head, and his blade was extended, embedded in the Grimm's agape jaw. The beast briefly twitched, before all brain function ceased, and its body fell limp, sliding off of the blade and onto the wet ground.

Axel's other arm shakily moved to push him up while his legs bent to lift. As if possessed, he rose in a slumped and clumsy fashion, briefly stumbling before he managed to regain his footing. His arms hung low and he stood with slouched pose, almost feral. The Grimm could see that he was breathing hard, panting with every effort he made like he was on the verge of collapse. But the human did not collapse, he remained standing while their pack slowly scattered in the clearing.

A few of the creatures noticed a large shadow overhead. It circled the clearing from high above. The human looked strong, but they could rip him to shreds with their friend as backup. It was time to feed, and this boy looked to be a filling morsel. The Alpha Beowolf howled with the bloodlust of its entire species, and charged forth with its pack right behind them. Eyes still obscured beneath his hair, Axel responded in kind to charge straight at the Grimm. He moved fast and kept low to the ground, so that when a Beowolf brought its claw down to slice him in half, he was able to leap clean of the monster's claws.

With that single jump Axel went up high over the pack, back-flipping over them all. In midair he drew his remaining pistol, setting it to full automatic fire that cast a shower of bullets on the pack. Two of them were killed as one's head was reduced to ash while the other's neck was vaporized under the barrage. Two more were wounded while the Alpha escaped free of the metal hail.

Axel landed on the ground with a heavy skid. His slid his gun back into his coat, and shot to his side when an Ursa attempted to crush him from behind. The beasts attack smashed the ground where he once stood, scattering rocks and heavy dirt. Not bothering with this one just yet, Axel ran again at the Beowolves. Only this time they were ready.

Three of them charged, trying to encircle him. The one in front of him pounced. Axel slid under the attack, shooting his armblade up above him to slice the Grimm into halves that crashed into the dirt. The other two charged him just as Axel rose back and turned to face his opponents. He responded to a swipe at his left with a parry from his own blade. The other Beowolf lunged at his head only to hit empty air as Axel ducked. From his crouched position, Axel thrust his elbow up at its arm. His other blade extended, piercing his jacket sleeve and the Beowolf's arm.

The monster howled in pain while the second one swiped at Axel's feet. But he twisted up and around the Beowolf's arm that was still impaled on his blade. The weapon sliced through it as Axel flung himself at the attacking one. His boot buried itself in the monster's jaw, knocking it back several feet. The other lacked an arm, but that didn't stop it from charging with utter fury.

Axel drew both of his armblades as the rest of the horde came at him. Dozens more Beowolves including the Alpha, and those two Ursas were charging him a fair distance from the two he was already engaging. He had to finish this quick or else he'd be swamped. It was all he could do to keep himself focused with his body feeling like he was….

The two Beowolves attacked again, and Axel dodged a series of swipes and strikes, blocking those he couldn't dodge. The one with a severed arm lunged too far and lost its balance, opening it up to several spinning slashes at its belly and neck from Axel, before he blocked a chomp at his own neck so that the Grimm's teeth landed on the blades. Unfortunately for it, Axel's blades were significantly stronger than teeth, and shattered the fangs into black shards. He turned his blades to plunge straight through and out the Grimm's throat, killing it instantly. Quickly he swiped his arms free of the body, jumped on top of the creatures shoulder's, and lept into the air as it fell dead.

He soared through the air with the horde charging forth. From the underside of his sleeves, two small metal tubes extended just beyond his palms. He pointed the weapons at the nearest creatures. The casters charged with energy, and fired shots of pure destructive energy. Each shot was a single blue beam that exploded on impact with the ground and everything in their vicinity. The recoil was so powerful that every shot sent him back up higher and higher in the air. Grimm after Grimm were vaporized by his shots, scattering their ashy remains all over the clearing.

The horde was scattered and disorganized now as hell fire rained down upon them. Several of their number including one of the Ursa were dead, and many more were wounded by the blasts. They failed to notice Axel plunging straight at them with two blades in his hands. He collided with one of the Beowolves as a missile with his rocket boots firing at full capacity. The blades passed through its flesh, and the rockets sent both of them flying, impaling another Beowolf clean through the head. Without a single movement wasted, Axel kicked off the two corpses, spinning and rotating as he did to fly past two more of the creatures, both of whom lost their heads as he passed by. He landed, deactivated his boots, and turned back to charge straight at the charging horde.

Axel felt no fear. He only felt anger. Such incredible overwhelming anger that drove him to attack a force bigger than he ever fought in training. These beasts wanted to taste flesh but were now sampling his swords like they deserved. He'd been unable to protect Bastet from the flying Grimm, but he would be damned if these Grimm would ever threaten another single person. He wasn't even sure if he was still feeling the effects of an episode because he was just so angry that monsters like these had threatened people in Remnant for all of history. They wanted a meal, he would only give them death!

The beasts fell in droves as Axel rushed and zipped around them, dodging attacks and parrying swipes to respond with his own barrage of slashes and stabs. He had turned into a black-blue blur that zipped around them, killing them when he saw the slightest opening. He killed, wounded, slashed, stabbed, kicked, punch, shot, and slayed the Grimm faster than they ever thought a mere human of this size ever could. Axel wasn't slowed down when a stray attack managed to hit him. His arms were cut, his legs were as well. Blood dripped from his wounds, but he didn't stop. He wouldn't stop, or else these fiends would reach the city. He refused to stop fighting.

The Alpha Beowolf was soon the only one left standing amidst the scattered corpses of his pack and the Ursas. Its pack had been annihilated by the human that stood before it now. The beast roared in rage, an anger it had never felt before. The Grimm didn't care anymore for its hunger, it only wanted to see this human torn to ribbons!

The beast attacked with fury that surpassed its entire pack. Its limbs were far stronger and faster than Axel's own. It barely missed his side when its foot smashed into the ground, but the impact knocked Axel onto his back. The Grimm lunged its arms at his form to tear him apart. At the last possible second, Axel managed to fire his rockets. The boots propelled him to safety just as the Alpha's claws stabbed the dirt. With considerable effort, Axel back-flipped off the ground to land on his feet. He fell to his knee in his landing, looking at the Alpha with a snarl. This one was a lot stronger than the rest of the Grimm, so he'd need something with a lot more power to take it out. Today was as good as any to test out the recombination feature of his weapons.  
>Taking his blades, Axel slammed their backs together. The weapons fused into one double-edged sword, the final form of his weapon that glistened in its glory.<p>

Both Axel and the Alpha waited. To charge forth recklessly meant a swift and painful end, so they waited. They glared right into each other's eyes, never breaking the stare. Axel felt all his senses going wild. He could hear a faint breeze and the distant rumblings of the battle in the mountains with perfect clarity. He could smell the sulfur in the air, the bitter salty scent of his own blood, the pine trees around the clearing.

His eyes stared back at the Alpha. The pain in his body, it was lessening. He wasn't assaulted by the sensation of metal bars in his body anymore. The sensation of hot needles was still strong, but he was pushing through it. If he closed his eyes, than he'd be finished off in seconds by his opponent. More than anything, he wanted to keep Lantern's Gale safe from these monsters, and he'd die if that's what it took. The two circled each other, slowing making each movement as carefully as they could. A single slip up meant death for one and victory for the other. They both fought out of anger; one for the people in the city, the other for its slain pack. They just needed the right opening.

It came, in the dead of night. Dark, heavy clouds loomed in the sky. They'd been there since the early afternoon. They were heavy and laden with water. For the entire day they'd been quiet. But now they were finally about to burst. A single rain drop fell. It raced to the ground with ever increasing speed, down past the flying Grimm and trees, before landing in the clearing.

This smallest of disturbances was the signal for the two to attack. The Alpha ran with such speed that it upturned the ground behind it, while Axel burst forward in a cloud of dust, scattering dirt as he ran faster than he ever did before. They met in a whirlwind of metal and claws, attacking each other with utter fury in every movement. Axel's swordsmanship and the Alpha's decades old skill collided with no clear victor in sight. Both fought on instinct, using every movement to kill or line up for the kill. It was a battle of pure animalistic fury.

With a mighty roar the Alpha slammed both its hands against Axel's sword, pushing his feet into the ground with their strength. His boots fired again, shooting him up to slam his knee into the Beowolf's chin. The creature reeled from the sudden blow, but brought its head straight into Axel's stomach. Axel was knocked down and tumbled back just before the Grimm's claws stabbed into the ground above his head.

It took only a second for the Beowolf to remove its claws, but that second was long enough for Axel to slice those claws clean off, simultaneously nicking the flesh of its hand. The Alpha barely stopped and tried to knock Axel aside, but he rolled along the ground as his opponent made a series of stomps and slashes after him. Again and again it attacked only to miss and scatter the dirt and grass.  
>Finally, one of it's attacks struck home. The claws sunk into the ground around Axel's neck. He looked up to see the teeth racing towards his head, and he inched his head to the side just as they chomped down. The monster was growling in anticipation of its meal, so hungry and angry that it failed to see the movement of Axel's sword, that plunged the weapon deep into its arm, spurting out that black blood all Grimm had. It snarled in pain, but refused to release its grip.<p>

Axel drew his pistol again, firing it on full auto into the creature's stomach. Each bullet embedded itself into the flesh and scattered oily blood, but the Grimm seemed to barely react to the attack, driven by hunger and rage that eclipsed normal pain. It kept snapping at Axel while he struggled in vain to remove his sword. He decided that he needed some extra snap in his bullets, and readjusted his thumb around his gun's handle. A single button press activated a nasty surprise for the Grimm. With subtle pops every single bullet embedded in the Grimm exploded. Chunks of its black flesh scattered along the ground, and it flinched at the severe wound. Finally the beast's hand loosened.

Axel let go of his sword, and punched the creature's arm to the side with both of his hands. He didn't waste any time getting flipped up onto his feet, almost slipping as the rain had made the ground slick.

The Alpha was stumbling back and forth, having a piece of metal in its arm and missing most of its chest and stomach. It realized that all of the pain was from this single human. The Grimm's gaze leveled at Axel, but found him mere feet right in front of him. Axel ducked under a swipe with the creature's free arm followed by a pained chomp near his shoulder.

Axel reached and grasped the sword's handle in a backhand grip, keeping a firm handle even as the Grimm thrashed about to shake him loose. He dug his feet into the ground and refused to give in for even a second. The sword was too firmly stuck in the limb to rip out with his own strength. He needed more power. He drew upon the strength of his Aura, connecting it to his weapon, his hand-crafted tool to channel his power.

Suddenly, the sword began to glow, its blade illuminated with a soft hum, bathed in a light-blue glow. The flesh around the blade started to smoke and hiss, filling Axel's nostrils with the ever-increasing stench of sulfur. With the burst of his Aura he drew on all his strength. He pushed the blade forward, up the Alpha's arm. It went through the flesh inch by inch with each one being accomplished through the power his sword. Then with a powerful burst of flame, the sword cleaved through the arm like hot butter. The Grimm collapsed onto its only remaining arm.

Yet even in this weakened and dying state, it tried to kill Axel with a bite at his head.

Axel's lazily swayed to the side, almost a taunt of the Grimm's efforts. Before it could even react, the Grimm found Axel's sword rushing to its head. With the anger in his mind still raging as a blizzard of contempt, Axel jammed his sword up through the Alpha's neck. The blue flame illuminated the blades path through the neck and up out of the skull no difficulty. Its head burned on the flame, and the flesh disintegrated into ash. Finally, painfully, the Alpha fell to the ground in a lump of matted fur and black blood. It's body moved no more, leaving Axel as the victor.  
>Axel almost felt happy, in a weird way. He had just fought his first Grimm horde and survived.<p>

For a brief moment, he allowed himself to feel exhaustion in his legs. His sword became a makeshift cane as he slumped down, practically panting his lungs out. Turns out that killing dozens of Grimm in mere minutes would be quite difficult on anyone who wasn't a professional Hunter. Who would've thought? The pain in his body was still there, but it was at the level of an aftermath of his episodes instead of being in the height of one, much to his confusion.

Every single movement had caused a spike of pain in his body in the past. But he'd been able to dodge, counter, and kill Grimm with a relatively clear mind and body. He didn't know how that had happened, maybe if he lived through this he could figure it out. His mom and Glynda would certainly be excited to learn how he had managed to push through it. Throughout the entire battle he was guided by some training, though as his first real combat experience he had reacted more on pure instinct fueled by rage. He could still feel it, utter fury at the Grimm…

Maybe that was it! Maybe the method his mother had been teaching him was all wrong. She always talked about calming himself into a trance, that he could attain an inner purity, some peaceful state of mind that would numb his mind and body to the pain. Wait, no...She didn't say peaceful exactly. She had always said it was some kind of emotional implosion, or some kind of feedback loop. What had Nadja said?

_ "Maybe you don't need peace brother, maybe you just have to become so unbelievably immersed in an emotion that it will make you come full circle and become calm again, a kind of focused emotional storm. A silent rage I guess. Now stop making all that noise and go to sleep or else I'll sick mom on you."_

She certainly had a way with words, his sister. If her idea was true, then he just needed to become so enraged that he'd make it a normal state for him. If he mastered anger, he might be able to find a solution to his episodes. But of course he had a much bigger problem. Namely that he was stuck out in the woods with Grimm corpses all over the ground. It wasn't so bad in the grand scheme of things. He was within a few miles of the city at least and could reach it if he just moved carefully through the forest.

But it seemed the grand scheme of things weren't finished with him just yet.

A shadow passed over the clearing, large and predatory. For a second he was shielded from the heavy rain by a massive object flying overhead, only for it to disappear just as quickly as it arrived. But the shriek in the air signaled that the monster that demolished Lantern's Gale was far from gone. Axel could hear the wings beating, feel the faint gust from each one reaching him. The beastie was here, and it definitely wanted to eat.

Somehow it found him - a lone human - more interesting than an entire city. Maybe it r maybe it was how he had slaughtered an entire pack of the Grimm, or perhaps it was the misery and anger that all Grimm were attracted to. Either way it wanted him, and it wasn't going to wait for a fair fight.

He had to be ready, and so he struggled to rise from his slump. He pushed up off his sword, which had since lost its glow. The rain pummeled him with an overbearing ferocity. Every drop caused a twinge of pain in him. By now it was a storm overhead filled with heavy rainfall. The grass was wet and slick with the Grimm's blood and the torrential downpour.

The massive shape of the monster was now clear to him as he rose to a stand. The massive crow-like wings that stretched so far. The middle of the wings edge had two massive claws, and the wings themselves were attached to a comparatively thin body. The creature had an equally long tail, along with large feet tipped by somehow even larger claws. The edge of the winds and its face were covered in white, bone-like material that stood out even in the heavy mist of the night sky. Pure white that only made its blood red eyes stand out all the more. The beak of the creature opened wide, and it cried a horrid shriek far louder than it ever had before that rocked the tree branches and even caused the ground under Axel's feet to shake.

This was one of the most dangerous Grimm in existence, the Nevermore. Known for striking with incredible precision and overwhelming force before disappearing into the night. The damn thing was certainly living up to its legacy of untold destruction, having smashed a skyscraper-tall wall like styrofoam. It had seen the city of Lantern's Gale as a meal, the great wall around it as a plaything to smash to smithereens.

Now it was looking at him and found something far more interesting. For the moment it remained where it was, watching him with inhuman, ruthless eyes. Axel couldn't tell if it was curious or simply considering how it should serve him. Should his ribs be cooked in barbeque sauce, or whatever the hell these monsters enjoyed?

"What's wrong you, you oversized chicken!?" Axel shouted. "You smash an entire wall and kidnap me out of the sky without a second thought, but now that you watch me slaughter your friends you're just now getting cold-" His taunt was cut off when he saw the Nevermore suddenly streamline itself. Its wide wings had closed around the body, its legs were stretched out behind it, and the beak closed. Suddenly it wasn't a passive bird anymore. All of its gestures had turned the Nevermore into a terrifying missile that was now falling at him at breakneck speeds.

Axel ran back through the clearing with sword in hand. He moved as fast as he could through the rain while the shrieking sound of the massive Grimm racing through the sky came ever closer. He could only leap to the side as the creature came too close to turn, whereupon its wings sprang open and the feet slicing deep and fast through the ground with the horrid sound of the earth being devastated in seconds..

Several massive and deep tracks were carved into the clearing by the attack, scattering dirt, grass, and rocks all over. A scar had been made in the earth, and Axel now lay between those scars. He was a speck in the damage wrought by that attack alone, and left with the sensation that he was far smaller in the world than he first thought.

Another shriek in the air signaled another incoming attack, this time much faster. Axel could tell because this was far higher in pitch, which could only mean the Nevermore was getting serious with him. Through the rain and sensation of needles returning to his body, he rose up, only to duck back under another swipe that just barely missed his head. The Nevermore missed again, yet still struck the ground as a force of nature. More of the clearing was changed into upturned mud and crushed grass when several more tracks were carved into the earth. The sound of the giant claws smashing their way resembled that of an earthquake, and it certainly left the effects of one as Axel struggled to keep himself rooted to the ground. Again the Grimm flew back into the sky as quickly as it appeared.

Axel scrambled to get a look up at the sky from his position in the dirt. He had to find out where it was before it came back around for another attack. He had been ridiculously lucky with those two attacks. Nevermores almost never missed their target and were known for their precision in seizing prey. Somehow this one had missed him, twice! If he lived this would be an amazing story to tell.

But even luck had its limits. Soon this beast would get angry or hungry enough to come at him with its full power, and Axel doubted that amount of courage or luck would save him when that happened. He had to think about how to kill this thing, or at the very least hold it off long enough for someone to arrive and help him out. Though either one was unlikely at best.

"Think, think you idiot. What do you know about Nevermores?"

They could fly, obviously. They could fly impossible fast, enough to outrace airships in fact. Their wings were tough, doubly so with this particular one given the unusual bone structure on its wings. It had already smashed and plowed through a gigantic titanium-enforced wall while being fast enough to evade turret's locking on to its position. That kind of speed would make it very hard to dodge. It was amazing Axel had dodged at all, it should be faster by his estimates.

It had those claws, plus the ones on its wings. The former had been uprooting the earth, while the latter were only of real concern if it decided to swoop low enough to smash him with the wings themselves, or turn sideways like it had with the wall. Those two attacks were unlikely right now. Right now the Grimm was using only its claws, as if it was showing some bizarre type of restraint.

The Grimm shrieked again, and Axel saw that the wings were once again spread wide. But this time it was still high up in the air. Axel sprung up to his feet while remaining crouched for the barrage he knew was coming. Sure enough, the Nevermore spread it's wings as wide as it could and made a single flap. Hundreds of its feathers flew at the ground, missiles strong enough to no doubt pierce concrete and metal with ease. There were so many flying at him that Axel lost sight of the Grimm and the clouds for a moment.

He dashed forward as one feather slammed into his position, and many more came soon after, bombarding the clearing with deadly penetrative force. He didn't have time to panic or shout in surprise, he could only focus on dodging. His Semblance was firing on all pistons, accelerating his reaction time far above that of a normal human or faunus. Everything was moving slowly for him.  
>The feathers crawled through the air and impacted with the ground like they were all underwater. He could track them all with his Semblance, but he wasn't moving any faster himself. The Semblance didn't accelerate his own speed, so he made every movement with careful observation. Each dodge and roll was the only route he could take without being impaled.<p>

It was only seconds, but to him the barrage felt like it endured for hours. He moved with panic and anger still fueling him, checking every possible direction and considering alternate routes upon countermeasures in the span of seconds just to survive. His mind had never thought this quickly before, never explored its potential unless he was in a life-and-death scenario. Well now he was in one, and it was pushing him to the limit of his abilities.

The initial barrage finally slowed to a halt just as Axel stumbled and rolled in the dirt. His Semblance had deactivated, accelerating everything back to its normal speed. The remaining arrows slammed into the ground, scatter more dirt and grass with their impacts. The clearing was now more of a war zone than any scene of nature's splendor.

Up above was the Nevermore, still flapping merrily as it looked down on this intriguing human being. The eyes of the beast were almost curious with him. Axel however was far less amused with his opponent. This Grimm should have killed him in seconds without a second thought given its speed, power, and no doubt centuries of experience. It would've had the easiest kill when it snatched him from the air back at the wall. So why hadn't it crushed him into mulch yet?

Now that his brain processed the battle, he saw that the Nevermore was moving a lot slower than before, and its attacks were unusually imprecise to kill a single human like him. It didn't make any sense, was it just bored and trying to kill time? Why would a massive predator be playing around like this?

"Wait…" Playing around… "You," Axel snarled with a new-found rage. "you're just playing with me. You want to have fun with your meal before you gobble it up don't you?" The giant pigeon wasn't even taking him as a threat, just a snack to knock around and scare before it grew bored and just swatted him like a toy.

Axel's body was twitching, but it wasn't from the pain. It was the sheer anger he felt to this creature that had smashed what humans worked so hard to build. That it spread terror without a second thought and took some kind of entertainment in watching its lesser brothers die in droves before it. It didn't even care for the lives of its own kind! Now it dared to gain enjoyment from playing with a living breathing creature on a whim! Everything on Remnant existed solely for its entertainment and sustenance. Axel and Bastet were food. The people of Lantern's Gale were just food. Axel's friends and family were nothing but goddamn food to this thing!

Axel's grasp on his sword tightened in anger, his mind raced in a flurry of rage. Humans and faunus were just morsels for the Grimm! The creatures did not care for the lives and emotions of living creatures. They didn't care about Axel's own history, nor that of Bastet or Captain Peppy. They would look on them all and see only food!

If they had seen Katze, she would just be food to them.

For all Axel knew of her, she wasn't anything to Grimm. None of who she was mattered to them. She had laughed, frowned, and cried when Axel knew her. She had wanted an end to the Faunus discrimination. She loved sushi so much that the scent of tuna drove her into a frenzy. She feared and loathed dogs with a passion. Books were her best friend, and the day Axel got her several had been the happiest of her life. She disliked the hot summers and loved autumn. She always wore an adorable red ribbon on her head, and loved having her ears scratched. She loved having a ditzy boy as a friend. Everything Axel remembered about her, all of it was nothing to Grimm. Everything she was, that everyone was, none if it mattered to Grimm. They didn't know Katze's life, and didn't care. They had the sheer gall to look on all life and view it as scraps. Axel had finally realized what Grimm wanted, all that they lived for; to kill and eat without end.

It caused a spark within him. His mind arched with simultaneous pain and anger, each so intense on their own were painful enough, and when combined they risked driving him mad. The sensation of needles in his body returned with a vengeance while the rage against the Grimm ran just as strong. This would usually drive him to tears or screams, but Axel gripped to a single spark of clarity within him.

In the storm of pain and rage, he finally knew what he wanted as a Hunter. It wasn't to bring carnage and taste blood on his lips, nor was it to explore the world without end or be lauded throughout history. No, it was something far more valuable than any of those...

The realization gave his entire body an explosive kick-start. His entire body flared with the strength he had left. Somehow beneath his exhaustion, deep beneath what he thought was his limit he found there was an ocean of strength deep within him. Power that filled his body down to the very tip of his fingers. He glowed a thick deep blue aura and projected a sudden gust of wind in all directions. It was strong enough to push away the water and dirt in a faint but clear circle around his body, and it made him feel joyously alive. After being kept under the weight of pain that had held him down for so long, his strength was finally waking up. He was waking up.

The Nevermore could see this happening to its prey. What had seemed like a tiny scrap of amusement was fast turning out to be a serious threat. The human was glowing as its Aura grew and grew. The Grimm could feel that its food was beginning to show its true colors. For the first time in its existence, the flying predator that stood as the apex predator was beginning to feel fear. Its playtime had ended, it was time to feed.

The Grimm abandoned all pretext for seeking entertainment. Now there was only the hunt. The creature flew at a wide angle so that it gained considerable distance from the clearing. Axel readied himself for another charge with sword at the ready. The creature completed its circle, and dipped heavily with wings clamped to its sides, diving with that shriek of a falling bomb. It shot with speed twice as great as before with no sense of restraint. It wanted this human dead before it really became a threat. Its body smashed aside several of the trees, flying lower than it had on its previous attack runs.

Axel saw this instrument of destruction that could level cities, and ran straight to it. He upturned the ground behind him with the sheer force of his launch. His blue glow was growing all the brighter as he zoomed forth into the jaws of death, determined to break the teeth and burn the tongue. The Nevermore spread its wings just before it slammed into the ground, leveling out and barreling through the feathers that were still embedded in the ground.

Through a veritable forest of feathers and corpses Axel ran. His sword was held in both hands at his side, ready to slash. The Grimm was flying so low that it would smash through anything in its way, including knew that well and continued to run. The Grimm wasn't going to stop anytime soon. So it was his duty, regardless of being a non-Hunter, to stop the beast before it killed anyone else. If he was to die in the attempt, than he'd die content with the knowledge that he would be dragging the Nevermore down with him.

The Grimm's mouth remained shut, and it's wings kept plowing through the feathers, and soon him. Axel engaged his Semblance again so that everything slowed. The snapping of the feathers were sluggish, and every break in their frame was clear to his ears, and he could make every move precise and calculated. He disregarded the move to duck under the attack, for that would only result in him being crushed. So if he couldn't slip under, he had to fly over.

With all his speed propelling him, Axel lept forward, soaring just barely above the Grimm's wings before they would've hit him. He passed over the cruel darkness of the giant Grimm, the oily black sea that had signaled death for countless others.

In his flight he passed within arm's reach of the Nevermore's eyes, which was more than close enough to slash with his sword, fueling his strike with the contempt he felt for the massive beast. The blade cleaved through one of its eyes, squelching the horrid orb into viscous fluid. The sword continued its slice through a portion of the mask and left a small cut in the creatures back. Before Axel had even begun to descend, the Nevermore had already reached the end of the clearing and angling up back into the sky. His own speed had been sluggish compared to the insane velocity the Grimm now used.

Axel fell to the ground in another stumble, the effort of reacting to such speed even with his Semblance engaged left him too focused to notice how his landing would go. That and the ground had been upset yet again in the Nevermore's passing. He rolled head over heels until he ended up on his back with arms splayed out at his sides, amazed that he'd managed to pull off something so mind-bogglingly insane and lived. He had gone up against one of the strongest Grimm and survived against all logic and common sense to the contrary. But the success came at a price. He had just challenged a massive Nevermore that plowed through cities in seconds.

The Nevermore was now truly angry, and in pain. It floated from high above looking at Axel with no sense of amusement or fear or hunger in the one remaining eye. This human was no morsel anymore, it was something it wanted dead. The Nevermore shrieked once more, far more cruel and guttural in its tone. From pain and anger the beast trumpeted that its hunt was beginning. Whereas it had screamed before to incite terror, it now signaled to all who could hear; this was its territory, its food, and no one else's. The howl of predation and anger. It wanted death and today that would be tasted.

The shriek thundered the ground and Axel's own senses. He had truly pissed it off to the degree that it was now solely focused on him. In a sense he felt terrified. But in another he felt proud. He as a single human had done more damage than the defense systems of an entire city, and gained the dubious honor of being the sole focus of the Grimm's anger.

"Not so hot now that your prey can fight back are you?" This creature's view of humans and faunus had no doubt changed. It was realizing these tiny bipedal creatures weren't tools to swat and eat at its leisure. These little snacks could actually stand up, they could fight, and they could touch a being even as old and strong as Nevermore had no words to describe its feelings. But it knew emotions, and today it felt only red-hot anger. Axel could see it flashing in the beast's eyes.

It was a strange sense of validation for him. He changed the Grimm's view, challenged it's view of the world. Now it was seeing that he wasn't its plaything, and it was furious at being injured. That a mere human was damaging its status angered it beyond belief.  
>Axel couldn't help but grin. Even if he was to die, he'd die fighting this beast to the death.<p>

He rested his sword on his shoulder while the Nevermore appeared to be considering its next move. Axel could wait for it, as its mind boiled in its anger and fear. He was content to catch a breath.  
>His sword was still shining despite the dozens of kills it had accumulated, a benefit of a self-heating function to automatically remove substances that might dull the blade.<br>Axel could actually see his face in the shining metal, and found something rather odd in his reflection. It wasn't the bits of dirt or the scratch on his cheek. His eyes looked different. They were brighter. In fact, they were glowing. They had an aqua-colored glow that shined onto the blade, bathing it in the same light.

"That's new." he muttered. He didn't have a clue as to why this was happening. Maybe it was the activation of his aura, or the trance technique altering his brain chemistry to the point of affecting his eyes. Maybe it was that magic of his mom's clan showing signs of itself in him. He didn't know its origin, but he did know that it was noticed by the Nevermore.  
>Axel could see that in the midst of the beasts anger, there was some kind of fear holding it back. The creature was feeling something it hadn't ever felt in its life. It was used to being the strongest and most terrifying creature around. It was used to seeing humans and faunus as its snacks. But now it had found something it was afraid of. And that thing was a lone human.<p>

"Now you've gotten the picture." Axel twirled his sword, pointing at the monster. "We aren't just your toys." Axel spun his sword overhead. He was going to need more power than he'd ever used before. His weapons had been proven to function perfectly in an all-out life or death battle. Extensions, dual-wielding, casters, and finally the double-edged form were all operating at peak capacity. Now there was one final attack he had to test. Now was as good a time as any. The Nevermore howled once more, this time as a direct threat to him alone. He was more than happy to answer that threat.

His body felt calm and focused, as did his mind. Every muscle was primed to kill. He no longer felt pain. The sensation of hot needles were gone, utterly gone. He only felt the tidal wave of anger within, that rage telling him that this beast didn't care for the lives of Bastet or Peppy or Nadja. It wanted to feast without fear and saw them all as mice. He was determined to prove it wrong. He'd take the creature's view of them all, and turn it to ash.

He felt an odd sense of tranquility within. The raging sea within him was slowly calming itself, becoming motionless in his mind. In his eyes, he felt a strange warmth. It was barely noticeable, but it was something that made him feel peaceful. His mind was filled with to the brim with anger in defense of those he loved, but he felt at peace.

He took his sword in both hands, holding it to the side at angle pointed at the ground. He took a single calming breath, and activated the sword with his Aura. The deep blue glow returned to his body, emanating that stiff wind in all directions around him. His sword hummed as it started to awaken its power. The shining blade glowed in a far brighter translucent blue light. More and more power was unearthed from within the sword. Its glow now masked the metal, and with a single burst of Axel's aura the glow sparked into a brilliant flame.

Up above the Nevermore slammed its wings to its side, and shot straight at the ground. No more strafing runs or feather attacks, this was a dive-bomb to obliterate the human beneath it. The monster fell faster than the rain and with far more precision. The shrieks of its previous attacks were nothing to this sure-kill move. The storm raged around the Nevermore as it flew, its one eye was trained on the scrap of meat that had dared to wound it so.

Axel refused to move in the slightest. He stood adamant against the oncoming threat with sword in hand. This was to be the deciding moment between the killer and the killed. In one second he could either be slashing this monster into oblivion, or be a stain on it's beak and the muddy ground. His sword burned in a blue inferno that flared with unrivaled intensity, carving a small crevice into the ground just by its proximity. The Grimm came closer, and closer. The storm raged around him, as if the weather reacted to the intensity of their fight and the absolute hurricane in Axel's mind.

"Grimm! You want to see what we can do!? Well check this out!" Axel gripped the handle tighter, causing the flame to grow more and more intense. "I am Axel Krieger, son of Alexander and Katherine Krieger! I will be a Hunter, and you and your kind will be my prey!" His sword's flame grew and grew, tearing up the ground where he stood. He was one with his weapon now, and ready to confront death.

The obstacle was in front of him. He had all the tools at his disposal and the know-how to make it all work. Now he just had to make the jump.

"And this," He gripped the handle tightly while the Nevermore shot through the air.

"is your end!" Axel dragged his sword through the dirt, burning it into ash as the blade carved its way into open air. With the intense force of a small storm propelling the weapon, the sword slashed up at the oncoming Nevermore.

The ground around Axel exploded outward from where he stood. The entire clearing was upset and uprooted when he made his swing, and many of the surrounding trees were uprooted and fell to their sides or outright flew into other trees. The initial swing only left the small circle of ground Axel stood upon untouched. He stood strong as his attack traveled into the air. The fire from his blade had expanded and flew high into the air, burning as a beam of energy that near-instantly evaporated the passing rain drops.

The beam flew straight at the Nevermore, having moved too fast to dodge the attack. Its own blind anger brought about its brutal end. The creature fell into the flame. It was swallowed whole by a creature far stronger than itself; humanity. The beam covered its entire form. Its tough mask and iron-like feathers were peeled of their protection layer by layer. The intense fire rapidly ate its way through the Grimm, burning off chunk by black chunk. Its body was quickly reduced to ash, and it died with a shriek born of contempt and its own fear. But it was the last sound it would ever make, as it was quickly snuffed out by the beams own thunderous howl.

The beam continued high up into the air, raging as a focused tempest that rivaled and overcame the storm around it. It climbed higher and higher into the sky, through the wind and rain and night until it pierced the clouds. The beam was so large and so bright that it could be seen for miles in all directions.

In Lantern's Gale the entire populace heard the howl, in the direction the Nevermore had flown hours before. They initially thought the otherworldly noise was the Nevermore about to smash through their homes. But when they looked to the sky they were not filled with fear but wonder. Where there once was fear and dread of the night, the people saw a single light of hope. From near the wall, there was Bastet being attended by a medical team for her injuries. She saw the pillar of light where her charge had no doubt been taken to, and found herself smiling.

From far away on the Arwing, the rabbit faunus Captain Peppy could see the bright light as well. He didn't have the slightest clue what was happening, but the wind from it was rocking his ship back and forth, much to his chagrin. Those with basic Aura abilities could see and even feel the titanic force of the beam like it was an earthquake and tornado rolled into one. The nearby Grimm that had been watching the battle all felt the power in the human and its attack fled for their lives, scattering back into the wilderness with all haste.

The only place it couldn't be directly seen was in the mountains, where the maelstrom was still raging between an army of Grimm and two Hunters. Glynda was in the midst of kicking several snake Grimm into ash while vaporizing an entire pack of Ursas. She didn't notice the earthquake and attributed it to Katherine's own efforts. But even if Katherine couldn't see it, she could certainly feel it, feel the unmistakable energy of her son's Aura.

The beam soon went above the clouds, slowly dissipating and shrinking. When it had reached the absolute height of its flight path, the attack gradually faded away into the ether. For a moment the sky fell silent, save for the gentle rain's pitter-patter on the ground.

But the beam had not finished its display. From the point where it rose to the heavens, the clouds that had been so heavy in the sky suddenly split in two. The gray clouds were blasted apart and dispersed from the hole made by the beam, and from there it rapidly expanded. The clouds that stretched over the clearing to Lantern's Gale and the mountains were pushed aside and dissipated in seconds as the aftermath of the beam swept through the sky.

In a single instant, the rain was gone and the clouds were no more. There had once been a gray blanket in the sky, but the hands of god had reached through the hole made by the pillar of fire and tore the clouds apart to reveal the peaceful starry night sky. The whole of the city and mountains were bathed in the faint light of the stars and moon. The roof had been torn off to reveal the wonder of the world.

For the people of Lantern's Gale it was one of the most beautiful sights they had ever seen. They had been menaced by a creature that made a mockery of their proud wall and fragile pride. It had appeared and disappeared in an instant, flying off into the distance. Now they had no doubt in their minds that the menace had been destroyed. They didn't know how exactly, but they were just happy to still be alive. Someone of something had stepped in and saved them, not only destroying the Nevermore, but obliterating the clouds that had loomed overhead. It was an omen, the sign of a savior...

For Axel, it was a now quiet and peaceful evening. He lay in the center of the clearing, the middle of the enormous crater he had made with his own power. Power that had reduced the Nevermore into ash that now flew off into the world and dispersed as it went. He couldn't even believe what he had done, that he'd survived. No, not just survived, but won. He had faced an enemy that wanted to kill people he knew and cared about, and had utterly destroyed it. He had somehow lived through the night. In this great victory, there was only one thing he could say...

"I'm awesome."

It had been a good day.

* * *

><p>For the two Hunters in the mountains the sight was far more perplexing.<br>Their assignment had been completed with the utmost prejudice and efficiency. Where there had once been hundreds of Grimm there were now only one massive pile of bodies. Two mounds of the damned upon which rested two women whom hadn't even chipped a single nail between them. They had been in the midst of discerning who had the greatest kill count when the clouds were torn asunder with the sound of a sonic boom. They could both feel where the attack originated, and they could definitely feel the insane Aura. Katherine rose from her perch, staff still embedded in the head of an Ursa.

"Figures," she sighed. "I leave him alone for one evening, and he rips the clouds apart."

"No doubt something he inherited from his mother." Glynda added. "I can only guess if he'll inherit your unique brand of intelligence Katherine."

"Beg your pardon, Witch. I don't think I heard you correctly." Katherine had since removed her bladed staff from the Grimm corpse and held it meaningfully over her shoulder. For one of the few times in her life, Glynda gave a genuine smile to her longtime friend.

"But I do know that he inherited your indomitable will. Your annoying, outspoken, destructive, caring will. He's got your willpower, and that'll overcome any setback."

"Thank you?"

"Your welcome. Now come, we should find Axel before he inevitably finds himself in more trouble than he is now. I trust he'll be quite exhausted after splitting apart the sky."

"Indeed." Katherine shrugged.


	7. My Name Is

Some aspects of living on Remnant were undeniable constants. The seasons would come and go year after year in the usual order. The sun would rise and set every day, as would the moon. The Grimm would attack and seek to annihilate them all. There were some things they had just come to expect from living on such a unique world. Birds flew, fish swam, skywhales swam and flew, Grimm attacked, and Kriegers caused collateral damage. It was practically a law of physics by this point.

It wasn't that Kriegers so purposefully, or with any real malice. But it seemed that wherever someone in the Krieger family went, they were virtually guaranteed to cause - or be near - some sort of destruction in one form or another. Alexander's inventions were known to explode by accident, or on purpose to devastating effect. His company developed so many volatile weapons technologies that it was utterly insane. Katherine was infamous across the world for accomplishing any mission given to her with efficiency and a tendency to leave craters and cause "unscheduled urban and/or rural demolitions." Lantern's Gale was relatively intact, somehow, but had seen its fair share of damage to the landscape. The mission to Lanterns Gale had resulted in the scorching of one end of the northern valley and what could only be described as the "multi-craterization" of the other, not to mention the damage done to the nearby mountains by her caffeine-fueled frustration. And that was just the outside.

The wall of Lantern's Gale was smashed and collapsed in two large sections, not to mention the turrets that needed to be replaced. The marble coating would be easy to replace, much to Katherine and Glynda's confusion. Though the unspoken fifty-seventh law of physics was challenged somewhat in that area, as the damage to the wall was done by a Nevermore with an apparent hatred of architecture. The blame for that rested squarely on the Grimm's very dead shoulders, which was largely accepted by the populace. The fact that it was now quite dead did help to ease the pain. For as the Grimm always attacked humanity, they were likewise always killed with the utmost prejudice by those with the strength to fight back. So while the people of Lantern's Gale were slightly miffed at the damage, they were satisfied that the Nevermore got its dues.

The damage to the nearby clearing however, was squarely human. At least the end result was, as people soon found the Nevermore's feathers scattered about the ground along with its claw marks and corpses of its fellows. Though no Grimm had created the unique type of damage seen there. To the shock of those in the city, a single boy had remade the clearing into a deep and expansive crater. Even the nearby trees weren't untouched, many uprooted and even shattered as a result of the giant blue beam. Further investigation revealed some trees were in fact launched several miles away.

But nobody was mad at Axel Krieger for the damage. In a sane world, angry citizens rarely openly praised their destructive saviors. In fact, they were all eager to find and see this mysterious savior. Bastet Lynx was at the forefront of the rescue party, and she was all over Axel to make sure her charge was safe and sound. After that she had hugged the boy dangerously tight out of joy that he had survived and amazement that he'd accomplished something so incredible at so young an age. Nobody could discern Axel's response because he could hardly breath at that point.

Later that day, Lantern's Gale later held a town meeting to publicly thank Glynda, Katherine, and Axel for their efforts in protecting the city. Axel in particular received a medal for bravery from the mayor, along with thunderous applause from the entire populace along with more handshakes, cheek-kisses and tight hugs than he could count.  
>There was a massive party soon after that. It was filled with feasts, loud music, and that other universal constant; alcohol. Somehow Katherine had kept every single drop away from Axel, much to the amazement of Glynda. It was a grand affair celebrating that for all the damage the Grimm wrought, the people would live to see the next day.<p>

"After that it was a long but enjoyable ride back on the Arwing. The passengers were talking about what had happened the entire ride back. Captain Peppy was annoyed Axel had caused some turbulence with his attack, but the man was clearly pleased, though Axel was too asleep to know it. Then we got home where more people met us and cheered until we finally slipped out of sight to get back to the office. We finished up the paperwork, got some coffee, and here we are."

Glynda finished her long-winded explanation with an elegant sip of her coffee, leaving Alexander in a mixed state of confusion and amazement at her words. With each passing sentence he had slipped down inch by inch in his chair, trying to disappear under his desk. Though Katherine had quickly yanked him back up like a turnip. So his only solace was resting his head on the desk, quietly thumping his head. Neither woman paid it much attention until he groaned.

"Something wrong honey?" Katherine asked with a chuckle.

"You smash a mountain range - again" _thump _"several turrets and a wall are crunched like stale pretzels," _thump _"my son is almost eaten," _thump _"then he manages to vaporize a damn Nevermore," _thump_ "and somehow blows up the sky." _WHAM_.

"Perhaps you require some coffee Alexander? It would remedy your headache."

"No thanks Glynda.I'm just dandy. Picture of sanity and stability right here." he groaned, burying his head in the crook of his elbow. Katherine looked at her husband, then back at Glynda with a raised eyebrow, then back at her lump of a husband with an exasperated sigh as if **he** was the drama queen in the family.

"In any case," Glynda rose from her seat. "Do you have any idea how this happened? How Axel somehow powered through the episodes?"

Alexander slowly rose from where he was, leaning back in his chair. He looked at Katherine, and she at him. He let out a faint if tired smile toward his battering-ram beloved like they were back at Beacon, meeting each other for the first time.

"We discussed things long and hard Glynda," he began. "I ran tests on Axel's eyes as soon as he got back. From what I've seen, it looks like his eyes are working perfectly now. I don't really know how it worked, but somehow he stabilized his interface with them and they're at peak capacity now."

"Pardon my interruption Alexander, but how exactly did that work?" Glynda asked. To her immense surprise the genius scientist and engineer, who could weaponize practically anything, responded to the question with a shrug that said "I have no goddamn clue."

"It could be he had an epiphany from confronting something he couldn't run from, resolving some psychological issue. Or it might be a chemical imbalance in his brain that the eyes only adjusted to when he was fighting the Grimm. That or the Damon blood in him healed his remaining damaged tissue. But you want to know something Glynda?"

"Go right ahead." She responded.

"This may be the only time I say it, but I just don't care." Glynda felt her jaw dropping.  
>"My son's better and happier than I've ever seen him. He's back on his feet and is eager to start school as soon as he can. I'm just too happy to care that much about the mechanics."<p>

Glynda managed to shut her gob before Katherine fell over from laughter, and regained her composure to nod at her friends.

"So I have gathered you two have reached a conclusion in regards to my proposal?"

The two of them nodded in agreement.

"Axel's going to Beacon Academy." Katherine confirmed. Glynda felt a small smile forming on her lips.

"Excellent. I look forward to having him as a student." She glared at Katherine. "As long as you make sure to tell him that he is not, under any circumstances to use that move of his indoors Damon. I do not want another blue-haired student demolishing the campus like you did." Katherine just quietly cackled back at her friend.

"I make no promises, Witch." To Alexander's fear, Katherine tapped her fingers together as if a mad genius had somehow replaced his wife. He sighed, but looked back at Glynda as a thought came to his mind.

"You know," he said. "My family has a title for people who've accomplished something like what that little rascal did." Glynda raised an eyebrow.

"What is it exactly?" she questioned.

"Wolke Trennwand. It translates roughly to 'he who divides the heavens.' Seems a kind of fitting title for him now that he's done something like this, don't you think?" To his surprise, Glynda and Katherine looked at him at the same time, both with a questioning look in their eyes. Now he was the madman.  
>It was like he was back in Beacon, about to weaponize his first washing machine before they had stopped him.<p>

"What?" he said. Katherine looked greatly amused at him.

"Funny story Alex. That title's not too far off from what the people in Lantern's Gale were calling him the whole time we were there. Whichis also what he's calling that little move of his now that I mention it."

"Oh, and what would that be Kath?"

Katherine looked proud as she ran the name over in her head. Of all the things he could've been called, she couldn't think of anything more appropriate to bestow on her son. Her little boy whom was once a tiny little boy with dreams of greatness, and now gone out and done it. He had a title now, one that was spreading across the land not due to his relation to the Grimm Reaper but his own legend, his own image. She couldn't feel any prouder for her son than when she looked at her husband and spoke the name. Alex gave the same proud smile to his wife.

"Gotta say, that's pretty appropriate." Alex chuckled.

"Indeed." Glynda concurred. "It's already spreading, people are learning about him." Glynda frowned a bit. "Where is Axel exactly?"

To this Alexander gave another uncharacteristic shrug.

"He went to the training room as soon as he got back Glynda," Katherine said with a grin. "he wants to run his weapons through the wringer again. That and test his perfected Stille Wut."

* * *

><p>The retraction and extension mechanisms worked perfectly. The blades hadn't lost an iota of its edge, not the tiniest dent. The casters had fired at the expected rate, and were more effective than he'd even hoped. The ejection function fired off without a hitch, and didn't pierce his nose on top of that! Everything was in solid working order. That wasn't even taking into account how terrifyingly effective the last attack had been. It split the damn clouds and turned the clearing into a giant crater, and even then it had only been aimed at the sky…<p>

Axel scribbled another note in his notebook under the new move.

_Note to self: Do not aim at the ground near or in populated areas under **any **circumstances. Collateral damage is unknown, but vaporization is a proven outcome._

He'd have to install a function lock until he tweaked the dust converters. So far that had proven to be the only glitch in his weapons. Though as his dad always said, "if it that increases destructive potential, it isn't a glitch, it's a feature!" Axel took minor solace in ignorance whether those were words of wisdom or insanity. In all likelihood they were probably both.

Axel turned the page from his sword notes to a more recent entry, one titled "Stille Wut."

_Stille Wut, aka "Silent Rage" _

_-Meditation using complete immersion in a single emotion. Results in an "emotional implosion" (find better term?). Results in near-total mental clarity._

_-Mind state feels objective and refined. Did not feel any emotions in state. Excellent in combat to keep focused and calm. _

_-Previously inflicted wounds and wounds gained during the state did not register. State most likely nullifies all pain. Should avoid injuries all the same._

_-Creates a 'glow' in my eyes for some reason. Have yet to explain this phenomenon, but it has potential use for intimidation, plus it looks quite snazzy. _

_-Common triggers include: Threatening well-being of loved ones, disregard for sentient life and emotions thereof. Traumatic sights. Can be controlled ultimately, but these can activate it potentially. _

"Interesting writing there brother."

Nadja's voice came from just behind where Axel sat in the simulated campsite that had served as his training ground mere minutes before. Unsurprisingly, his little sister was completely nonchalant at the sight of a couple simulated Grimm lying all over the place with her brother in the center. If anything she was more intrigued with his notes.

"Can't believe I know something you don't sis?" Axel teased.

"Perhaps. I am more interested in how you managed to attain this...State."

Axel leaned back on his impromptu Grimm chair, closing his notebook with another chuckle. For once there wasn't a specific explanation for it. In an exact mirror of his father, Axel shrugged. Nadja responded to his explanation with a sigh.

"Just try to explain it to me." She grumbled.

"I really can't." He responded. "I'm not sure if its me having a imbalance of chemicals and hormones that causes some kind of adrenal overload. It could be some of that magic we have in our blood that mom mentioned, or it could be something based solely on emotions. All I know is that I triggered it when I thought about…"

Axel rose from his seat as he slid the blades back into his arms. He still didn't understand it fully himself. One second he was thinking about the Grimm and his childhood friend, the next he felt at peace and was charging a Nevermore without a single thought at how insane it was.

"My mind just drifted to-"

"To that faunus girl right?" Nadja interrupted. Axel could see she wasn't the least bit pleased at hearing her brother's motivation to survive was that girl of all people. "There are days when I truly question your sanity Axel."

"Normally I would too, but this wasn't one of them. I just had some kind of epiphany, and that helped me push past the episodes my eyes used to cause and somehow survive out there. Not only that, but I finally got my weapons sorted out," Axel shot the blades and casters out of his sleeves in a flash. They flew up several feet in the air, and Nadja instinctively jumped back in surprise. Then they fell back into Axel's hands and were idly twirled in elegance that actually made Nadja faintly envious of her ditzy fool of a brother, for once.

He handled the weapons with an ease and relaxation that she'd never seen from him. It was almost a dance between him and the swords. He no longer had that weariness since the accident in his eyes, that view that every waking moment was another opportunity for an episode. He looked like the brother she once knew, full of a strange optimism, and an annoyingly cheerful and snarky attitude.

His swords glistened in the simulated sun as they fell back into his hands mid-spin. The catch was smooth and every motion linked to the next, so that when the back of the blades slammed together, it was the last move in a fluid dance.

"Come on sis." Axel suddenly spoke up, leaving Nadja briefly confused.

"Huh? What?" She blubbered. Axel smirked.

"It's okay to say that this looks damn cool. I promise I won't tell anyone."

"I have no idea what you're talking about brother." She was determined to not reveal a single moment of weakness to the oaf she was related to. She refused to be distracted by the sword. Even as it shined in the light and whistled a faint metallic hum with every motion. She denied any fascination with the weapons frame and seamless result of a fusion of no less than four weapons into one shiny whole. Nor did she have any interest in the tiny inscription on the weapon's pommel. She wasn't interested in it at all.

"I gave it two names."

"What?" Nadja found herself again being shaken from a stupor, much to her embarrassment. If anything it was a sign that her brother was in fact back to normal. Or as normal as could be expected from their mad family. He certainly looked at least a little bit mad when he sported a proud smile on his lips. With a single motion he split the swords apart.

"I named the sheathed and drawn forms Letzen Licht." Again the blades fused into one.

"That one came after I named the final form; Teufels Licht."

"So you went with 'Devil's Light', and 'Angel's Light' for the other one. Kind of tacky."

"I named the final form in honor of mom. I figured that she's the 'devil,' and dad is the 'angel,' so it seemed like a decent fit to me. Besides, you went with 'mother's love' for your own weapon."  
>Nadja looked genuinely annoyed with her brother, to which he actually felt pleased. It wasn't a huge breakthrough, but the fact that Nadja could actually be annoyed by him again showed that while she still had walls a mile high around her, they weren't insurmountable. As if to distract from the issue, Nadja gestured Axel to follow her. It was in fact near dinner time.<p>

"Let's go, dad will be wanting to hear your version of the story." She sighed.

"Alrighty." Axel disassembled the weapons into the two swords and sheathed those back into his sleeves with a casual smoothness in his movements. Together they walked through the virtual campsite, brother and sister.

"By the way brother," Nadja asked. "What did you end up calling that new move of yours? I heard that the people of Lantern's Gale were chanting some title for you?"

"Well, the answer to that is two-fold sis."

"Well? What is it?"

Axel was silent for a moment. He still couldn't believe it fully himself, it was just so bizarre an event. One moment he was nearly Nevermore-bait, then the next he was splitting the clouds with a single attack and was being chanted to by an entire setting. To say it was a bit overwhelming was a massive understatement. Somehow he'd been slammed with crippling pain, and smashed it to bits with a technique that was either scientific, emotional, or magic-based.

He had found what he wanted out of being a Hunter at least. He had realized that for one, he actually kind of enjoyed all three aspects he'd mulled over before. Carnage in so much that he enjoyed a good battle, exploration in that he could go out with others to explore new worlds, and glory because while his own deeds did net him more popularity than he expected, they had given hope to the people of Lantern's Gale when previously they had none.

But it wasn't any of those things he wanted. Unsurprisingly for someone like him, he had considered all the options and possibilities with maddening precision and care, yet had completely missed an obvious alternative. When he was fighting the Grimm, it had been his anger for the casual disregard of life that had started him down his path, but it was thinking of all the people he loved that had driven him to fight. Nadja, mom, dad, Glynda, the Hell Twins to an extent, Weiss, Bastet.

Katze...

Every person her knew had given him the strength to not just survive, but live. In remembering all the people he knew, he found what he truly desired from being a Hunter. More than anything in the world he wanted to protect. To defend lives and save those in harms way. It was why he grew so angry at the Grimm, because they viewed life as it's food-source. The people of Remnant were certainly not food. They were so much more. Axel wanted them to keep on living.

So he'd ensure that they all could, that everyone would have a chance at life to prove themselves. He'd defeat the one's who wanted to kill, to enslave, to elevate themselves above all others. And he'd do so with his weapons, his eyes, and indeed his entire being. He had a title now, and he was determined to live up to that title as one who would break the dark shadows of the world and help illuminate a path for others to walk on. He would help, defend, and fight for the betterment of all no matter the enemy, and with his newfound power, he would find a way. It wouldn't be easy, but it was a promise to himself, to his family, to Katze, to everyone.

"Cloudbreaker."


End file.
